JANET RENO HAS PASSED AWAY

ELECTION UPDATE: At 10:00 PM EST The NY Times is estimating a 73% chance that Donald Trump will be the 45th President of the United States with 280 electoral votes. 
What we are seeing is clearly a "Brexit" vote with rural counties and voters previously uncounted in Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire and possibly Pennsylvania turning out in numbers not previously predicted and allowing Trump to be competitive and win states that no one thought Trump had a chance to win. 
Clinton will NOT win Florida. 

JANET RENO, Former Dade State Attorney and Former Attorney General Of the United States, has passed away at age 78. 

She was born and raised on the edge of the Everglades into a Miami that no longer exists. She was- in the simplest and non-racial sense of the word- a Florida Cracker. Raised by parents who were  muck-racking journalists, she returned to Miami with a Harvard law degree and expressed surprise when then State Attorney Richard Gerstein offered her a job because she and her parents had been so critical of him. 

She replaced a legend and became an even greater legend. 

As State Attorney in Miami she presided over the crime explosion from the Mariel Boat expatriation; the explosion of crack-cocaine and the influx of drug money that led to multiple corruption scandals in the police department and the judiciary. 

Through it all, as Miami rioted and burned, she sent her prosecutors to court with one simple directive- Go where the evidence takes you. 

This simple philosophy would in turn make her the moral compass of a nation during her eight years as Attorney General (the longest term in 150 years) as the nation reeled from sexual and financial scandals that marred the Clinton administration.  

We chuckled to ourselves as Janet settled into Washington, DC. "They have no idea what they've gotten themselves into."

Not one ever to be influenced by "old-boy" blackslapping politics and backroom deals, she befriended Justice Department janitors who accompanied her to church, and she spurned the trappings of power, flying regular coach when spending the tax-payers money on government business. 

When she made a mistake or things went wrong she went Harry Truman and told the congress that the buck stopped with her on the decision to send the FBI to raid a compound in Waco, Texas.  When things went right she stood in the background and let the line prosecutors have their moment in the sun. 

She was the most honest and ethical person we have ever met. She was intelligent, hardworking (bringing a sleeping bag into the State Attorneys Office to work on weekends), a true Floridian and a great American and someone we were proud to call friend. 

Rest in Peace Janet. You made us all proud. 

RENAME THE E.R. GRAHAM

She remains the finest prosecutor any of us will ever encounter. She inspired a generation of prosecutors and lawyers by giving them simple and heartfelt instructions: "go where the facts and evidence take you and do what's right."  As a lawyer, State Attorney and Attorney General of the United States she always did her "level best" to do the job right. We are speaking of course of Janet Reno, and there is not even a bus stop in this town named after her. It's time to change that. 

The State Attorneys' building is the E.R. Graham building, named, we think, after former Governor and Senator Bob Graham's father. The building was named the E.R Graham building when it housed a variety of state agencies, and the SAO's county court division. Now of course it is the office of the State Attorney for Dade County, and it is time to change its name to the Janet Reno building.  It is the very least we can do to honor one of our own who continues to inspire us with her work with the Innocence Project, and whose  words of advice and  encouragement for lawyers to always do what's right no matter the political cost, ringing in our ears.  She was the longest serving Cabinet Member of the Clinton administration and her simple and straight froward refusal to play politics did us proud. 

Re-name the Graham Building the Janet Reno Building, and lets do it while Janet Reno can still enjoy the knowledge that we are all proud of her, and many of us owe our careers to her. 

See You In Court.