Steve Czajkowski at 9:45 AM ET [JURIST] The Florida Supreme Court [official website] ruled [opinion text, PDF] on Thursday that Republican Governor Charlie Christ [official profile] could not delay a decision on filling a vacancy in Florida's Fifth District Court of Appeal [official website] in order to consider more diverse candidates. In November, Crist was provided [press release] a list candidates by the Judicial Nominating Commission of Fifth District Court of Appeal (JNC) [Committee list] in order to fill the vacancy resulting from the retirement of Judge Robert J. Pleus [official profile], due to age. Crist rejected the initial list, and requested the JNC reconvene to review other applicants, in particular three African-Americans. When the JNC resubmitted the same list of candidates, Crist did not make an appointment.... [read full story]
