JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG

WELCOME TO THE OFFICIAL RICHARD E GERSTEIN JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG. THIS BLOG IS DEDICATED TO JUSTICE BUILDING RUMOR, HUMOR, AND A DISCUSSION ABOUT AND BETWEEN THE JUDGES, LAWYERS AND THE DEDICATED SUPPORT STAFF, CLERKS, COURT REPORTERS, AND CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS WHO LABOR IN THE WORLD OF MIAMI'S CRIMINAL JUSTICE. POST YOUR COMMENTS, OR SEND RUMPOLE A PRIVATE EMAIL AT HOWARDROARK21@GMAIL.COM. Winner of the prestigious Cushing Left Anterior Descending Artery Award.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Brrrrrrr

BREAKING BLOG NEWS: as reported in the comments section by many alert readers, Chief Judge Farina will not be seeking re-election. 
"If nominated, I will not run. 
If elected, I shall not serve." 
Big changes afoot for our 11th Judicial Circuit. 
If you think a couple of judges breaking into a shoving match over a fax machine was a big deal, wait until you see our dear robed readers fight for this plum. 

Our first cold day of the Fall season. Wouldn't it have been great if the cold front had arrived Sunday morning? A crisp cool Sunday afternoon at Dolphin stadium, with brats and wings on the grill would have been a perfect compliment to that great Fin win. 


October sees the end of the worst month for the DOW industrials since September 1931. 

George Yoss isn't getting paid. And as the DBR reports here, he doesn't like it one bit. 
Rumpole says: welcome to the party pal.  For those of you who weren't lawyers at the time (and by that we mean just about every judge in the criminal division of county court and about half the judges in criminal circuit) George handled a a few cases for Janet Reno when she was State Attorney. 


Alaska's powerful Senator Ted Stevens was found guilty yesterday of seven charges in Federal Court in Washington, DC. The Times article is here. 

 While we're most often found pacing the halls of branch courts, we have been known to wander certain halls of power from time to time in our nation's capital.  
Ted Stevens? One word: Hubris. 


Hubris: It was most evident in the public and private actions of the powerful and rich. The word was also used to describe actions of those who challenged the gods or their laws, especially in Greek tragedy, resulting in the protagonist's downfall.

It's not like Stevens  did something really bad, like shoving another senator in a dispute over a fax machine,  but all of our elected officials (robed readers- put down those comics or FLW cliff notes and pay attention)  should remember that they are one dumb move away from ruin. It is a privilege to be a public servant, and when you forget that, you end up with Brendan Sullivan charging you a million bucks for a histrionic closing argument that rarely works. 

We're seven days away from electing a new president and a third of the senate. The real fallout of the conviction of Stevens is that it gives the Democrats a real chance to pick up his seat in the election and moves them one step closer to a sixty member  "filibuster proof" majority.   

As we often remind clients and some intransigent federal prosecutors, be careful what you ask for, because you may get it.  

Meanwhile, the economic news just gets worse and worse. It really was an impossible task to ask any Republican to run in the shadow of this President's failed economic and foreign policies. John McCain obtained the nomination he deserved eight years ago, and proceeded to wreck any credibility he had in not pandering to the worst elements of his party.  Only seven more days and McCain's national embarassment of a vice presidential candidate will fade into a obscurity. 

See you in court, wearing our favourite sweater for the first time in a while. 

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Even before Stevens' indictment, let alone trial, the seat was a cliffhanger. Most recent polls have shown his Democratic challenger, Mark Begich, with a narrow lead. I suspect that this seat will now go blue. Assuming that the Dems carry all the now Republican seats where they have solid or respectable leads (VA, CO, NM, OR, NH and now AK) as well as the GOP-held seats where they have narrow leads (MN, NC), to get to 60 they have to pick off one of the following: Roger Wicker in MS, Saxby Chambliss in GA or Mitch McConnell in KY. All of these races are tight, although I sense that McConnell will probably win. A strong Democratic/Obama turnout could oust Wicker and/or Chambliss. Dems chances of reaching 60 are probably under 50-50, though not by much.

As far as the presidency goes, with CO and VA tilting blue, Obama has 286 electoral votes (IA and NM are solidly blue). McCain's strategy to win PA is his only hope, although his chances there are slim. Assuming McCain wins PA and its 21 EVs, Obama is down to 265. McCain then has to run the table on OH, NV, FL, MO, NC and IN. Obama has consistently led in recent polls in the first two and appears to have a slight lead in FL. MO, NC and IN are dead heats, although the latest polls reflect a small Obama lead in IN. McCain must carry them all, something that seems very unlikely right now.
Plus MT, ND, SD, GA, WV and AZ are still competitive, although McCain appears to have razor-thin to narrow leads in all of them (some polls suggest that MT and ND are ties). I'd be pretty surprised if Obama carried any of those other than MT and possibly ND (although GA has really tightened up). McCain can afford to lose MT or ND or SD, but must hold onto the other states.

Another option is for McCain to give up on PA and try to carry CO and VA, but in that case he still has to run the table as above.

McCain has a chance, but it is very slim and shrinking by the hour. I'm going to say Obama carries between 340 and 375 electoral votes, although 400+ isn't out of the question if he gets a small surge in the next week.

Anonymous said...

hey rumpole...with the end of the bush era (thank goodness!), who will be appointed as the
new U.S. ATTORNEY for the Southern District of Florida by:

- President Obama?
- President McCain?

i would be interested to hear who your readers think will be appointed in Jan.

Anonymous said...

BREAKING NEWS: The DBR is reporting that Judge Farina will not seek reelction as Chief Judge next year when his term expires.

"Chief Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Joseph P. Farina will not seek re-election when his term ends next year, a court spokeswoman said"

Anonymous said...

The only reason socialism has failed has been the lack of a true leader to press the cause in a rational way. I think Obama is just that leader and we ought to allow him and the Congress much more power over society if we wish to becoms a truly progressive nation.

Anonymous said...

"Say it ain't so Joe"
In an e-mail memo to all the Circuit and County Judges and staff,
Chief Judge Joe Farina announced, after seven terms, he will not be seeking re-election as Chief Judge. He will remain as a Circuit Court Judge. The new term for the Chief Judge will start July 2009.
Election for the new Chief Judge will take place January 30, 2009.

He is the consumate diplomate and an excellent Judge.
His skills as a negotiator,consensus builder,advisor, friend, budget manager and all around great guy will be sorely missed.

Tough shoes to fill.

Very few in the system today can fill them.

Thanks Joe for all your hard work, caring and dedication to making the system work.

Anonymous said...

Hey Rump,
I'm sure you must have heard,
Farina announces he's not seeking re-election as Chief Judge when this term expires. New election for new Chief set for January with new Cheif taking over when term ends the end of June, 2009.

Anonymous said...

I nominate the following for Chief Judge:

Judge Miller, who promises to take out of control Judges and slap them around.

Judge Cohen, who better to yell and scream at fellow Judges when they get out of control.

Judge Adrien, only to get his ass out of criminal court.

Judge Dennis, always ready to push the panic button and help out fellow Judges.

Judge Blake, so he can have dedicated time to read and post comments on the REGJB Blog.

Anonymous said...

Farina said: Shumie Time baby.

Rumpole said...

I mistakenly erased the dale ross comment- please re-send it.

Anonymous said...

The "Shumie Time" Podcast "Shumie Time- The Movie, what you need to know" scheduled for release on ITunes on 10?30 has been delayed until 11/4.

Sorry.

Anonymous said...

How old is Farina? Is he reaching the majic number of 70?

Anonymous said...

Gov. Charlie Crist on Tuesday extended early voting hours across the state to 12 hours a day. The executive order comes after record early voting turnout has contributed to long lines at polling sites.

Anonymous said...

Rumpole--You deleted my earlier comment. Why should I expect any less from a Mia-muh lawyer?

As I said earlier, I am transferring to Dade County (screw that Miami-Dade crap). I will run for Chief Judge and intend to win.

Deal with it.

Anonymous said...

The reason socialism has failed is because it goes against human nature and makes people subordinate to the state and to the "enlightened" "elites" who run the state and think that they and the state know what's good for you. As Winston Churchill said: "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."

Anonymous said...

How about we sent Jackie Scola to Civil, and retrieve Judge Siegler? There is a major league trade for justice, let the civil lawyers experaince the difference, god knows we in criminal have and our clients suffer the bipolar mode swings!

I suspect that she was not challenged out of respect for the good Scola.

Anonymous said...

CBS 4 TV listed Clerk candidate Alfredo Perez and he has an interesting group of endorsers:

Go here:

http://z5.thevoterguide.org/a-wfor08/candidate-detail.do;jsessionid=27A653081DCE581F7AF03CD72D003317?id=163611918

Endorsements: 1.Christian Family Coalition. 2.Mr. David Nelson, Candidate for Clerk of the Circuit Court, who came second in the primaries and has publicly asked all 25,000 of his supporters to cast their vote for me. 3.Former Mayor of Hialaeh, Mr. Julio J. Martinez 4.Retired Judge, Honorable Ivan Hernandez 5.Mario Vicente, former President of Association of Floral Impoters of Florida and current president of Fresca Farms. 6. Dr. Ramon Garcia Septien, medical advisor to the World Boxing Federation. 7.Former Hialeah Counselman Angel Fajardo.

---------------

This one caught my eye "4.Retired Judge, Honorable Ivan Hernandez", note "Retired Judge". I recall an election and someone named Faber. Since when is getting booted out of office make you a retired judge as opposed to a former judge?

Gotta love "2.Mr. David Nelson, Candidate for Clerk of the Circuit Court, who came second in the primaries and has publicly asked all 25,000 of his supporters to cast their vote for me."

Yea, that will do the trick. Coming in second in a two way race is called, LAST PLACE!!

Anonymous said...

I'm sure Ted Stevens' name will pop up on a pardon list by Bush as he heads off into the sunset.

Anonymous said...

Rump if you're still feeling cold come on over. I'll get the Princess to show you her new dance moves- it that doesn't warm you up I don't know what will!