August 10, 2023
An apparent agenda spearheaded by Florida House Speaker Paul Renner poses a key threat to what remains of democracy in Florida. In response to a June 15 letter from Mr. Renner, the Florida Supreme Court has created a Judicial Circuit Assessment Committee to examine the state of Florida’s circuit courts.
The speaker’s letter to Chief Justice Carlos Muniz stated, “consolidation of circuits might lead to greater efficiencies and uniformity in the judicial process, thereby increasing public trust and confidence. I also believe that the consolidation of circuits would result in improved economies of scale in the judiciary’s back-office operations, leading to substantial cost savings for Florida’s taxpayers.”
Unfortunately for the people of Florida, this so-called consolidation attempt is little more than a transparent attempt to gerrymander the circuit court system and further limit access to justice more millions of Floridians.
“There’s so many reasons that this is a terrible idea. The most important one is that it takes control away from communities and it gives it to just a few people in Tallahassee. Whether it’s done by Republicans or Democrats, by the governor or the legislature – rigging elections through partisan gerrymandering is an attack on democracy, and that appears to be what’s happening here,” said Andrew Warren, the duly elected state attorney for the 13th Circuit, covering Hillsborough County. He was suspended from office last year by the governor for exercising his First Amendment rights – a move that a federal judge ruled unconstitutional and that the Florida Supreme Court did not sanction.
The present situation
Current judicial circuit boundaries were established 1969, when the state underwent a significant judicial overhaul to streamline operations and reduce a confusing and complicated court system to one that could be easily understood.
The circuits in Florida, as the speaker’s letter said, are diverse, “ranging from approximately 2.7 million people (in the Eleventh Circuit) to less than 100,000 people (in the Sixteenth Circuit).”
They reflect the different needs that the people of Florida have, spanning archipelagos, swaths of rural land where cows outnumber people and urban conurbations where some of Florida’s most famous landmarks are located.
The 16th Circuit, which consists of Monroe County (where the Florida Keys are located), is spread out over a wide geographic area, despite its relatively small population, and by being its own circuit, the people are able to more easily access the circuit court to deal with their issues. If it was consolidated with another circuit, especially the 11th Circuit, which consists of Miami-Dade County, these citizens may have to travel significantly further to access justice – one of the foundational principles of American democracy.
In comparison, the 11th Circuit is massive, being the third-largest county by area and the largest county by population in the state. For any circuit to be forced to consolidate with the 11th Circuit would put an immense strain on the justice system as the operations of at least two circuits would have to be collapsed into one, enormous circuit.
“If they’re going to reduce the number of circuit courts, you’re potentially creating these big circuits that will be less efficient. That creates a lot of gridlock that makes it take longer for people to get justice in the court system,” said Mr. Warren.
On the other side of the coin, Florida’s Third Circuit is a seven-county behemoth, covering sparsely populated territories in the state’s Big Bend region.
Importantly, each circuit elects its own state attorney and public defender. When looking at the most recent election results in each circuit, the people of Florida elected six Democratic state attorneys and 14 Republican state attorneys and an identical amount of public defenders from the exact same circuits.
The six Democratic state attorneys come from two circuits with more than one county: the Second Circuit which consists of predominantly Democratic Leon County and Gadsden County, with four less populated, Republican leaning counties, and the Ninth Circuit, consisting of Orange County and Osceola County – both two traditionally Democratic counties.
Critically, the other four Democratic attorneys come from single-county circuits: the 17th Circuit in Broward County, a blue bastion, the 13th Circuit in Hillsborough County, a county shifting more Democratic, where Mr. Warren was elected in 2016 and re-elected in 2020, the 11th Circuit, where Democrats have held both offices for decades, and the 15th Circuit, consisting of traditionally Democratic Palm Beach County.
In other words, the first counties which could be affected by circuit court consolidation would be the counties which are most likely to elect Democrats rather than Republicans. Moreover, while judges cannot be explicitly partisan, this consolidation would also mean that judges who appeal more to the electorates of these more Democratic circuits would have a significantly more difficult time in being elected.
The speaker’s argument that court consolidation will cut costs is a new one. Just last year, he supported the creation of a Sixth District Court of Appeal even though the appellate caseload in Florida has actually been falling. That new court of appeal was opposed by five out of the 14 members of the committee set up to study expanding district courts of appeal. Four of those ‘no’ votes came from every voting appellate judge on that committee.
It had a significant fiscal impact to the taxpayers, to the tune at least of $52.5 million in nonrecurring funds and $7.2 million in recurring funds. Of course, this is not what mattered. Every new judge on the Sixth District Court of Appeal was handpicked by the governor, and under Florida law, these judges do not have any precedents at the appellate level to follow, so they may make decisions as they (read: the governor) see fit.
An exercise in limiting democracy
Ultimately, the speaker’s opening of Pandora’s box in this area is yet another instance in which democracy is being undermined in Florida.
Rarely has such a project been initiated without the blessing of the governor, and this is likely to be no different. The legislature is, at this point, an extension of the governor and there is no love lost between him and the Democratic public officials who undertake actions which displease him.
Consolidation of the courts is certainly not the right answer.
Mr. Warren stated, “Government works best when it’s closest to the people. This is an example of taking away local control from communities consolidating power in the hands of a few people in Tallahassee. This takes power away from local sheriffs, police chiefs, state attorneys and public defenders. And most importantly, it takes power away from the people all across Florida.”
As the number of people in the state has grown, it would be profoundly more logical, if any changes were to be made, for the state to expand the number of circuits from its present 20 circuits to a larger number. However, the committee which can been put together to ‘study’ the issue likely has its mind made up and, even it it did support the creation of additional circuits, it cannot recommend any action other than an up or down position on consolidation.
“If there were a good faith effort to try to find inefficiencies that could be addressed through redistricting, that’s certainly a possibility. But there’s no reason to think that that’s what’s happening,” said Mr. Warren.
Who leads the committee is also a key indicator in the eventual outcome; Fourth District Court of Appeal Judge Jonathan Gerber is a Federalist Society member who has twice appeared on the Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission shortlist. As the committee’s chair, it would be highly reasonable to believe that he will conform to expectations and usher a pro-consolidation report.
By consolidating the circuit courts in Florida, partisan gerrymandering, traditionally reserved for legislators at the state and federal level, would be extended to the judiciary and, thus complete control over that branch would be achieved. The governor has already stacked the Supreme Court, packed courts around the state by filling vacancies and created the Sixth District Court of Appeal. Now, the final individuals capable of being held accountable by the public are set to be targeted.
While the report from the committee set up by Chief Justice Muniz has not yet been issued, it is unlikely that Mr. Renner and the governor plan to deviate from what appears to be a predetermined course of action.
“You’d have to be born yesterday to think that the legislature doesn’t have an end goal in mind,” pointed out Mr. Warren.
This course of action also creates a terrible precedent for the future. Circuit court redistricting should be conducted as few times as possible to avoid politicizing the process, and this process has been politicized from the court. Changing 54 years of boundaries to suit one man and his speaker will make future state officials more willing to use the courts as another way to suit their political ambitions in the future.
It will also damage public confidence in the courts, as they rely on an independent judicial system, free of political interference, to fairly decide cases.
“Our court system is a third, equal branch of government. Democracy depends upon an independent, objective judicial system. When the governor is injecting partisanship into the courts, it is a real problem for public confidence in the courts, and how well the courts work to secure justice for everyone,” said Mr. Warren.
By Dec. 1, the report is supposed to be released, setting a clear path forward for consolidation during the 2024 legislative session, which begins in January and ends in March. The map could radically reshape the 2024 elections for state attorneys and public defenders in a highly negative manner.
Mr. Warren warned, “I hope that people pay attention to what’s happening in our state. They can’t just wait until something bad happens to them. There are a lot of anti-democratic things that are happening throughout the state – abuses of power, things that are unconstitutional and un-American. If you wait until it directly affects you, it’s too late.”
Rather than serving the people, the legislature will continue to serve the ambitions and lust for power of one man – the governor. Justice will be more difficult to access and the people will be the worse off for it.
The Broward County Courthouse, seat of the 17th Circuit. Charles Horowitz for Policy Reform Now
By Charles Horowitz
Policy Reform Now 
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