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, June 17, 2014

THE BEST OF THE BEST

ASA Sally Weintraub is retiring at the end of this month. She's a spry 85. Judge Reemberto Diaz, who had several memorable battles against her when he was a defense attorney, rightly called her "one of the best of the best." 

The Herald's article, written by David Ovalle is here. 
Having had our share of cases with Ms. Weintraub, we echo Judge Diaz's comment: The best of the best.  

Some of the highlights from Ovalle's article: 
Janet Reno recruited Ms. Weintraub in 1979, when she was in her 50's! Most lawyers have an eye on an early retirement at that age. Sally Weintraub started the career that would define her as a lawyer. 
Ms. Weintraub had many accomplishments in her career, which the Herald article recounts. We confine our remarks to her last case: The prosecution of the murderer of young Rilya Wilson. 
Rilya Wilson was a foster child. Her disappearance wasn't  noticed/was covered up- for an astounding fifteen months! She was unwanted, apparently unloved, and the State sadly failed in it's obligation to this child. But Sally Weintraub spoke for her when no one else could or would. She prosecuted her killer. The convictions for kidnapping and child abuse couldn't bring this poor child back, but it gave her a dignity in death that she was deprived of in life: someone cared. 

Our community has been blessed because of Ms. Weintraub. We need more prosecutors like her. Personally, we didn't always agree with how she saw a case. But we always respected her view and her dedication. We wish her well in her retirement; a retirement she earned decades ago, but forfeited to serve the people of Miami. Godspeed Ms. Weintraub. 

JUDGE GAYLES CONFIRMED. 

Judge Darrin Gayles was confirmed by the United States senate (motto "proudly not agreeing on almost anything since 1789, but even more so recently") 98-0 on Tuesday as a United States District Judge. Judge Gayles joins a distinguished group of District Court Judges who started their judicial career in the REGJB as a County Court Judge. From Misdemeanors in 2004 to a lifetime appointment in 10 years. Not bad. Not bad at all. 
(For you history buffs who take umbrage with the date of 1789, the senate was created in the drafting of the Constitution in 1787, but first convened in 1789.) 

Is the Bloom off the RoseUPDATE: NO!
Judge Beth Bloom was nominated at the same time as Judge Gayles. She and Judge Gayles were voted favourably out of the Senate Judiciary Committee at the same time. And yet Judge Gayles was confirmed, but a vote was not held on Judge Bloom, who in our humble opinion is as equally deserving as Judge Gayles. We (for once) have no answer as to the delay. Can anyone shed some light on this? 
UPDATE: Several alert readers wrote in to inform us that Judge Gayles was included with other judicial nominees for political purposes that relate to private matters. Judge Bloom's nomination is scheduled for an up/down vote with the next batch of Judges. However, not to jinx anyone, but in this current political climate, if Obama sneezes and uses the wrong handkerchief, the right wing of the senate is likely to respond by freezing all his judicial nominees. We hope Judge Bloom gets a vote before the 2014 political season heats up with the mid-term elections.

See you in court. 


21 comments:

CAPTAIN JUSTICE said...


THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

U.S. Senate votes on Federal Judges ....

And compare Judge Gayles' 92-0 vote today with another vote for a different federal judge:

WASHINGTON -- The Senate made history on Tuesday with its vote to confirm Darrin Gayles to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

"Gayles,, who was confirmed 98-0, is the nation's first openly gay African-American man to be confirmed to the federal bench. His vote came just after the Senate confirmed Staci Yandle to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, by a vote of 52-44. She marks some milestones of her own as the first black lesbian federal judge in two decades and the second one in the nation's history. The first, Judge Deborah Batts, was sworn in during June 1994."

Judge Bloom is expected to be included in the next vote of federal judges that the Senate addresses.

That will then officially open up two seats on the Circuit Court for the JNC to nominate and for Governor Scott to appoint.

Great timing for Scott to be able to name a couple of new Judges right before the general election in November.

Cap Out ....
Captain4Justice@gmail.com


MC Waste Services, Inc said...

A: she isn't gay. she must wait her turn.

Steven Bustamante said...

Sally was my first DC when I came to felonies from juvenile back in 1986 (87?).

Sally's a serious person, as everyone knows, but she supervised with a great sense of humor. She was a great teacher, always exuding confidence.

I learned to respect her very much. I hope she has a great retirement.

Rumpole said...

I published Mc waste's comment because the best way to deal with idiotic prejudices is to expose them to the harsh light of day. Rather than muzzle such comments I would put people like that on network Tv. Let them have their say and have their ideas judged by the marketplace. Both judges Gayles and Bloom are strong enough to weather such dumb remarks.

MC Waste Services, Inc said...

hey, rumpole, you stupid bitch, this is what i was referring to: SDGL blog spot for

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Judge Gayles to be confirmed tomorrow!
He has his final Senate vote tomorrow. Good luck to Judge Gayles! (My sources tell me he was moved up to this group for the historic vote of two openly gay judges and that Beth Bloom will be in the next group.)


Post this if you have a pair.

Rumpole said...

See how ignorant he is? When confronted with his prejudices he can do nothing but rant. When ignorance is exposed it's never pretty.

Anonymous said...

Sally finally is taking her long overdue shumie and rump just Shumie'd the shit out of that idiot.

Anonymous said...

Couple of rules MC MOOK- first, don't pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel. Update that old saying to don't pick a fight with popular bloggers. Second. And this stands the test of time. Don't pick a fight with people much smarter than you. You matching wits with Rumpole is like the French army in 1939 vs Germany. It's over quick and it's not pretty. Ouch. Stay with your garbage collection paisan.

Anonymous said...

Why do we need to focus on a judge's sexuality? One's sexual preference has nothing to do with the job of being a judge. Just like being a football player. Totally irrelevant. Now we are further labeling people by their race and sexual preference. What next? A gay, black judge who is a scratch golfer? Or a cigar smoker? I find this obsession with sex offensive and an invasion of one's right to privacy. Why not just say he is very qualified for the position and got there on his merits?

Anonymous said...

Isn't nice that after fucking over Bill Thomas, Marco Rubio left Gayles alone.

Both are good judges.

Anonymous said...

Dear Mr. Waste services, 7:10 am

Your comment is out of line. I am gay and trust me it would be much easier for me to be straight in ALL ASPECTS OF LIFE.

You sir, are out of line.

Why does someone in the garbage business have such interest in this Blog anyway?

Pizza Gal said...

I'm checking out various attorney websites and a whole bunch of them announce proudly that their office is Gluten Free. Why in the world does that matter? And if you work there does that mean you can't order pizza for lunch on Fridays?

Anonymous said...

Love the shumie comments. Keep them up. FYI the Q started the Gluten free craze on attorney websites.

Anonymous said...

Re Gayles. I have been in front of him many times. The man missed his calling. He should have been an actor. He has the perfect demeanor. His sense of timing was spot on. If Martin Scorcese had a traffic ticket in front of him years ago, Gayles would be on the front page of People and Entertainment Weekly instead of getting a crash course on how to use Pacer and learning all the pass codes to get into the courthouse.

Anonymous said...

I wish more of the supposedly tolerant followed your example.

Anonymous said...

I really did not appreciate some of the decisions Sally has made.

I also thought it was ridiculous for her to try cases with her son.

That being said, I have nothing but best wishes to send her for her retirement.

Anonymous said...

cysco tried and won only one case against sally. she was tough and distrustful of cysco. as always he put on the charm offensive and out right hit on her - this threw sally off her game. cysco was half her age. she is a dirty fighter. cysco is fast with the six gun - sally was out gunned.

RFB said...

Colombia just scored a goal and the entire team did the Macarena ! WTF?

Anonymous said...

Shumie time for Ivory Coast. Colombia up 2-0 first half.

Anonymous said...

Just hold on. GAME ON Ivory Coast comes roaring back 2-1. No shumie yet for IC.

Anonymous said...

I thought that piece of Basura RFB was banned from your blog like all the other legal blogs in Florida.