MORENO TO TAKE SENIOR STATUS

DOM broke the news yesterday on his blog. 

Judge Federico Moreno has had a lasting impact on the judiciary and community of South Florida. He made news as a County Court Judge by going home over lunch and bringing a child seat for a woman who appeared in his court for a violation and didn't have the money to buy a safety seat for her child. He issued a traffic bench warrant for a Dolphin wide receiver and then hand wrote "Don't arrest on Sundays." 

He went from county court to circuit court to the federal bench to chief judge of the Southern District and he did it with humility, humor, hard work, and a dedication to serving the people of this community. But for an ill-timed election, he would have spent the majority of his career on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. 

Their loss is our gain as Judge Moreno spent his career presiding over trials, dispensing justice, and tormenting lawyers with his (in)famous calendar calls which were no less rigorous then a 20 minute oral argument before the US Supreme Court.  If you wanted a continuance he would react as if he was personally wounded.  "This case is (fill in the blank- 6 weeks, six months, one year old!!) ____how did this one slip by me ?" he would wonder out loud. If you mentioned you needed more time to prepare he shot back "You're a great lawyer. This is easy for you. How much time do you need? We can start at 10 am instead of 9 am..." No mater what you answered you were in box until (sometimes) he would dramatically sigh and wonder if he was getting soft in his old age and give you the time you needed. It was a show, and we were all along for the ride.  Do yourself a favor and pop by and watch a calendar call. It's a treat. 

Trials moved crisply. Time wasn't wasted and woe to any lawyer who was seconds late or unprepared. Personally, we never felt safe showing up anything other than an hour early. 

But justice was done. Judge Moreno could separate the wheat from the chafe. He knew a good case from a bad one, and a serious case from one that was a governmental exercise in bureaucracy. 

Judge Moreno was loyal to a fault. Look at the bench and see how many  "Moreno Clerks"  are now Judges. He was a mentor to a generation of young lawyers and Judges. No investiture was complete without an appearance by Judge Moreno with the explanation of how he affected that Judge's career. 

Review all we have written, and one thing becomes clear- This is what a Judge should be. 
Taking senior status means Judge Moreno will still do what he loves. How can he do anything else? He belongs on the bench, inquisitive mind probing the lawyers, finding the weakness in their arguments, making a ruling, wondering our loud if "three judges wiser than me" ( a phrase he appears to have invented- we first saw him use it in State Court) will agree with him.  
Another memory we have is him complaining during his arraignments in state court that "that blind clerk doesn't like me", because we were all told cases were "blind filed" and he felt he was getting a lot of cases. But make no mistake. He watched his numbers closely and was always one of the most efficient and hardest working judges in the court house. 

Judge Moreno was and is a great judge. Sui Generis. And we are lucky he chose to serve our community.