Former state Supreme Court justices participated in a panel Tuesday on the challenges of implementing law in a biased system.
UF’s Levin College of Law hosted the conversation on Supreme Court justices at 1 p.m.
The panelists in attendance included Martin Dyckman, former columnist for the St. Petersburg Times; Harry Anstead, former chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court; Marsha Ternus, former chief justice of the Iowa Supreme Court; and Major Harding, former chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court.
The panelists discussed the judicial retention election system, which allows the American people to vote to remove current state Supreme Court justices or keep them for longer terms. Harding said the problem with the election of justices is the corruption involved when justices disagree with voters’ opinions.
“The job of a judge is not to do what’s popular,” Dyckman said at the event. “The job of a judge is to swear before God and the court to do what’s right.”
To put things into perspective, Ternus discussed her personal experience with being attacked on the retention ballot. In November 2010, Ternus and two other Iowa Supreme Court justices were removed for voting to legalize same-sex marriage, she said.
“The negative thing about that kind of message is that it tells judges sitting on courts addressing issues that generate a lot of debate,” Ternus said, “that instead of consulting law books, they ought to consult the latest public opinion poll.”
The panelists called for law students both in attendance and watching the live stream to step up in the community to stop the attacks on state Supreme Court justices.
