Dear readers, those of you who are longtime and careful readers of this blog know the deep and abiding affection with which we hold those dear addled souls who happen to wear black robes in Dade County. "Wait long enough" we are often heard to say "and one of them will do something stupid."
Presented for you consideration, one Judge (Circuit, no less) named WIlliam Johnson. A nice enough man it seems, although we have never had occasion to appear before him, or any judge in juvenile court for that matter.
It seems Judge Johnson had the political connections, know how, and wherewithal to get himself APPOINTED as a Circuit Judge. However, it seems that his talents lie in one direction only.
Judge Johnson becomes, to the best of our knowledge, the only Judge in the history of jurisprudence who has been unable to retire.
Early today we (El Capitan and I) reported on Judge Johnson's 11th hour (apparent) retirement from the Circuit Court. Faced with a challenger who filed on the day before the deadline, Judge Johnson, who is nearing retirement age, made what was probably the correct move for him, by retiring (or trying to retire). Once retired, Judge Johnson saved himself the expense and agita of running a campaign, not to mention that by retiring Johnson would be allowed to return as a retired Judge, and retiring now would also allow him to take advantage of the current lucrative retirement policies that may well change in the future.
Well, how hard can it be to retire? Pretty hard if you wear a robe in Dade.
Apparently it is complicated enough that Judge Johnson was unable to do it.
He is now (maybe) a candidate for re-election, as his "wait, forget what I just said/wrote" letter to the election elves was sent today, and you can peruse it here.
But what if Judge Johnson's "retirement" was enough to knock himself out of the race, and is considered a "resignation" and not a "retirement"? Johnson, could well find himself both out of a job, and out of luck.
We wish Judge Johnson well. Indeed, we may vote for him, so long as he promises to stay in Juvenile and not ask to go to civil court where meeting filing deadlines can sort of sometimes be an important thing to do.
See You Monday, when this whole mess begins to play out. What are the odds there is a lawsuit brewing over this out there?