Judge Terry Lewis Dismisses Lawsuit Seeking Removal of Supreme Court Justices from Ballot
Southeastern Legal Foundation: We "Absolutely" Will Appeal
At approximately 3 p.m. Wednesday, Judge Terry Lewis of the 2nd Judicial Circuit Court dismissed a lawsuit brought against Florida Supreme Court Justices Barbara Pariente, Peggy Quince, and R. Fred Lewis by the Southeastern Legal Foundation (SLF). SLF, a conservative public-interest law firm, is representing two citizen plaintiffs who allege that the justices employed the services of their law clerks in furtherance of their campaigns and had falsified campaign documents, both of which would be violations of state law. Judge Lewis dismissed the suit, on the grounds that the plaintiffs lacked standing -- i.e., the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate that they have suffered, or would suffer, any special injury not shared by citizens in general should the justices’ names be permitted to remain on the November ballot.
Attorney Shannon L. Goessling, executive director for the Southeastern Legal Foundation, told Sunshine State News she "absolutely" would appeal the case to the 1st District Court.
More to come ...
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Comments (1)
12:07AM AUG 9TH 2012
Dismissed with prejudice . . . almost as good as a summary judgment.
Perhaps they also need a new lawyer - their's apparently tried to argue that the merits of the case have to be decided before any lack of standing arguments. I'm not an attorney, but that appears to be a novel argument (at least one I haven't heard being successful previously).
Also interesting that Sandy D'Alemberte, former American Bar Association president who was observing the case, said the lawsuit was a "political attack" and "frivolous" and ranked it as one of the worst he's ever seen.
Perhaps they also need a new lawyer - their's apparently tried to argue that the merits of the case have to be decided before any lack of standing arguments. I'm not an attorney, but that appears to be a novel argument (at least one I haven't heard being successful previously).
Also interesting that Sandy D'Alemberte, former American Bar Association president who was observing the case, said the lawsuit was a "political attack" and "frivolous" and ranked it as one of the worst he's ever seen.
