| DATE: | November 30, 2017 |
| TO: | USF & NRA Members and Friends |
| FROM: | Marion P. Hammer |
| USF Executive Director | |
| NRA Past President |
It's not too late. Justice Pariente can still recuse herself or resign.
Based on a 1980 case, motions seeking the recusal of a Supreme Court Justice are decided ONLY by the Justice asked to recuse -- not all seven Justices.
Justice Pariente alone, not the rest of the Court, made the decision to refuse to recuse herself, and she did not have the courage to give the Governor of the State the professional courtesy of explaining the justification for her decision.
Instead, of issuing a professional decision over her signature, she had the Clerk of the Court issue a one-sentence denial of the Governor’s Motion, with no explanation whatsoever. That is inexcusable and exacerbates her judicial misconduct.
Court’s are supposed to make reasoned decisions and explain the basis for their rulings so the parties and public can have confidence there is some proper and rational reason for what they are doing, even when everybody doesn’t agree with the outcome.
Justice Pariente owes the People of Florida an explanation for her improper comments and refusal to recuse.
EMAIL HER AGAIN: Tell her to RECUSE or justify refusal.
parienteb@flcourts.org
Her disrespect for the rest of the Court, the Governor, and the People cannot be tolerated.
The majority of our state's highest court, which includes Justice Pariente, is not only liberal leaning but is biased against the Second Amendment of the US Constitution
Please read this following news article:
News Service Florida Alert System: 11/30/2017
BACKROOM BRIEFING: NRA LOBBYIST TARGETS PARIENTE
(Weekly political notes from The News Service of Florida)
By DARA KAM AND JIM TURNER
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA
©2017 The News Service of Florida. All rights reserved.
THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, November 30, 2017......... National Rifle Association lobbyist Marion Hammer launched a campaign this week to purge Florida Supreme Court Justice Barbara Pariente from a case that could have far-reaching implications for the makeup of the court.
Hammer, long an influential figure in Tallahassee and a former president of the national gun-rights group, sent an email alert Wednesday morning to NRA and Unified Sportsmen of Florida “members and friends” urging them to tell Chief Justice Jorge Labarga and Pariente that “she must recuse or resign” from her post.
“Florida Supreme Court Justice Barbara Pariente has been caught in an act of what we believe is clear judicial misconduct and must recuse herself,” Hammer wrote, attaching an editorial penned by conservative political consultant Justin Sayfie.
In the email, Hammer wrote there “is no other appropriate option” for Pariente than recusal or resignation.
Gov. Rick Scott had asked Pariente to be removed from the case, which centers on whether the governor or his successor has the legal authority to appoint replacements for three justices --- Pariente, R. Fred Lewis and Peggy Quince --- whose terms end as Scott leaves office in January 2019.
Scott's lawyers argued that comments by Pariente caught on a “hot mic” after oral arguments in the case indicated she was biased against the governor.
Hammer's Wednesday morning alert went out just as the court issued an order rejecting Scott's request that Pariente be disqualified from the case. Presiding law in similar cases says that justices, not the entire court, get to decide whether to recuse themselves.
Hammer said the court's decision Wednesday didn't matter.
“She can recuse or resign at any time, and those are the only realistic options that are available,” she told The News Service of Florida on Thursday.
Pariente, Quince and Lewis are part of a liberal-leaning bloc that holds a slim 4-3 majority on the state's high court. Whoever gets to choose the next three justices could shape court decisions for years, if not decades.
The court has thwarted efforts by Second Amendment supporters twice this year alone.
“The majority of our state's highest court is not only liberal leaning and biased against the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution but appears to be comfortable with Justice Pariente's judicial misconduct,” Hammer said in the Thursday interview.
In September, a unanimous court drew a line in the sand in Florida's “stand your ground” law, by saying the determination of immunity in a criminal case does not carry over to a civil case.
In a 4-2 ruling in March, the court upheld a longstanding ban on people openly carrying firearms in public.
The court could also hear an appeal in another case related to a change in the state's “stand your ground” law. A Miami judge struck down the change, which supporters of the law called a “notable setback.”
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