House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, talked with the media Monday, setting the stage for the Tuesday start of the legislative session, and called for a dramatic reform of the state Supreme Court.

Cannon wants to change the current seven-judge body into two separate five-judge courts. Cannon called for one state Supreme Court that would examine civil affairs and another one to focus solely on criminal cases. Both courts would have five justices each.

“I think all of this would take a constitutional amendment,” said Cannon, who has been very critical of the judicial branch, rejecting proposed amendments that emerged from the Legislature last year.

“I’m well aware of the criticism I’ve received,” noted Cannon. “The fact remains that the Constitution provided three branches of government with checks and balances for each.”

The speaker offered few details on how separation could be achieved, saying that could be left for committees to hash out. He maintained that his proposal would improve the judicial branch’s efficiency, arguing that criminal cases -- which were 12 percent of the Supreme Court’s docket -- consumed 50 percent of its time. Cannon even noted that more criminals on death row are dying of natural causes than lethal injection.


Cannon also said that the House Judiciary Committee would also consider a proposal making retention of appellate judges contingent on receiving 60 percent of the popular vote. Reviewing judicial retention votes of the last decade, Cannon noted that the only time judges garnered less than 60 percent came in 2010 when those from the 1st District Court of Appeal -- home of the lavish courthouse dubbed the “Tallahassee Taj Mahal” by both the media and politicians -- were up for retention.