Florida

Pacifist Patriot

(24,653 posts) Thu Sep 13, 2018, 03:44 PM Sep 2018

Rick Scott Is Preparing to Pack the State Supreme Court After His Term Ends

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/09/rick-scott-plans-to-pack-the-florida-supreme-court-after-his-term-ends.html

"On Jan. 8, 2019, a new governor of Florida will be sworn in. On that same day, three of the Florida Supreme Court’s seven justices will complete their final terms. Based on those facts alone, you might assume that the new Florida governor will have the opportunity to select these justices’ replacements. That, however, is not at all clear—because current Republican Gov. Rick Scott has declared his intent to replace them hours before his term concludes. He is now moving forward with this plan to pack the court. And the only people who can stop him are the current justices themselves. ...

<a lot worth reading snipped>

Third—and perhaps most ominously for Florida’s democracy—Scott’s plan could lead to a bona fide constitutional crisis in which two people claim to be governor at once. Although Florida’s governors are usually sworn in around noon, their terms begin at midnight by the plain language of the state constitution. So, theoretically, if Gillum won, he would become governor at 12 a.m. on Jan. 8. But is a governor really governor until he’s sworn in? No one seems to know, and so Gillum could demand a midnight swearing-in ceremony, as past governors have, to avoid appointments chicanery."

Evil fuck!