THE INSANITY TEMPEST
An Insult to the Bar
I always wonder how lawyers like Todd Blanche and James Uthmeier managed to complete law school and pass the bar exam, not to mention “passing” the moral fitness background investigation. I suppose I could include Ted Cruz, Ron DeSantis and Josh Hawley in that category, but today it Attorneys General (love that plural title) that interest me.
James Uthmeier, Florida’s current Attorney General, has turned a respectable state office with a limited mission into a megaphone for beyond-MAGA politics. Uthmeier has called for the impeachment of three Miami-area judges because he does not like their rulings. Hey, I graduated law school a long time ago, but I seem to remember being taught that’s exactly the purpose of the the appellate process. I also have a vague memory of something about that from Sixth Grade Civics class . . . .
So how can it be that Uthmeier is rallying for the impeachment of Judge Miguel M. de la O, who was presented with competent, substantial evidence that a woman was legally insane at the time she killed her young child and tried to kill family members who intervened? Florida Statutes are very specific about the evidence and procedures necessary to find someone not guilty by reason of insanity (an extremely rare occurrence, I might add) and are also very specific about whether a person so acquitted must be institutionalized.
Judge de la O assiduously followed the statutes and the rules and is now being threatened by DeSantis’ Court Jester for doing just that? I thought those Federalists and Originalists all want to be rid only of activist judges—oh, wait, that’s the term for judges whose rulings we don’t like! A touch of irony—Judge de la O served on the Florida Board of Bar Examiners for ten years before he was elected to the bench in 2012, prior to the time Uthmeier would have applied for admission to the bar. Per chance Uthmeier wouldn’t have made the cut.
When the judiciary is seeded with MAGAs, there is no need for appellate courts because the SUPREME COURT will make the call based on the commands of the Chief Executive made from behind the stage curtain. Jimbo adapted to this system easily and now is climbing towards stardom in that firmament. (I can just see and hear him now defending Florida's 6-person juries.)
Turns out that Dee the Electric Impaler, who three years in a row vetoed a bill to give inmates a periodic free phone call when inmates receive good marks for comportment, has a different idea for how to use Inmate Welfare funds that involves helping his campaign contributors in the private-sector jail business. HB 913 — Inmate Services: Requires money in the Contractor-Operated Institutions Welfare Trust Fund to be used exclusively for programs to help inmates reintegrate back into society and for environmental health upgrades at contractor-operated facilities. Wonder what percentage will go to the latter?