In many foreign countries, some of which we dismiss as "backwater dictatorships" an acquittal or dismissal by a court results in an appeal. Many times the charges are reinstated.
Add Florida to the list of "backwater dictatorships" when it comes to Judicial Bar Complaints, by judges, against lawyers, in which a duly empaneled Bar Committee dismisses the judicial complaint as nothing more than arrant hogwash
Apparently our judges could not live with non-judges dismissing their complaints. "They're not judges, so what do they know?" was the reasoning we imagine was bandied about.
So now we have Bar Rule 3-7.18 which will require the Board of Governors of the Florida Bar and potentially the Florida Supreme Court to review all dismissals of Bar complaints initiated by the high and mighty that wear black robes to work. We say "potentially" as to the Florida Supreme Court, because in bureaucratic speak, that means they are trying to wiggle out of more work.
Bar Complaint: "Rumpole accused the entire Florida Supreme Court of trying to wiggle out of work."
Bar Committee: "Dismissed. Free Speech. A satirical blog. We like reading him, etc."
Case referred to... the Florida Supreme Court. Oh, that's nice. The victims adjudicating the case. A Dade County State Attorney dream come true.
So now, like Iran, North Korea, China, Venezuela, and other bastions of due process, which Florida now joins in respect to how they treat attorneys, a dismissal of a Bar complaint means little when you offend someone with a B...I.....G ego. Emphasize big.
Just wondering if the door will swing the other way, when a lawyer files a JQC complaint that is dismissed? Will those get reviewed as well? Let's put it this way. While we were just about the only ones smart enough Sunday morning to tell you that the Lions would win their first game of the season, the chances of Judges and the Supreme Court allowing review of dismissal of judicial complaints is the same or less than the Lions winning the super bowl this year.