Crist chooses Canady for Supreme Court

Gov. Charlie Crist on Thursday appointed appeals court judge Charles Canady to replace Raoul Cantero on the Florida Supreme Court.

Canady, 54, of Lakeland, was a Republican member of Congress for four terms before leaving elective politics to keep a term-limits pledge. He was on the team of Congressional prosecutors that impeached President Bill Clinton. He was former Gov. Jeb Bush's general counsel and a Bush appointee to the Second District Court of Appeal in Lakeland.

Crist called the appointment of Canady the most important thing he could do. Crist called Canady "brilliant" and "compassionate."The governor also will make three more Supreme Court appointments over the next six months.

Canady said he planned to move his family, he has a wife and two daughters, to Tallahassee immediately and start preparing for cases in September. He said he has no plans to leave the bench before he hits the mandatory retirement age. Justices Raoul Cantero and Ken Bell also have young children and are leaving the bench due to their young families.

--Jennifer Liberto, Times Staff Writer

Comments

A legacy pick.

[Dan Krassner, Florida Chamber of Commerce]

The Florida Chamber of Commerce supports today’s decision by Governor Charlie Crist to appoint Judge Charles Canady to an at-large seat on the Florida Supreme Court.

“This is a great day for Florida and we hope it’s a sign of more good things to come,” said Mark Wilson, president and CEO of the Florida Chamber of Commerce. “Judge Canady is well suited to serve on Florida’s high court. We’re optimistic that the Governor has signaled a trend with Judge Canady’s appointment that will continue with decisions on other vacancies.”

A lifelong resident of Florida, Judge Canady’s long track record includes serving in the Florida House of Representatives, U.S. Congress, as general counsel to Gov. Jeb Bush and through an appointment to Florida’s 2nd District Court of Appeals.

“Judge Canady is the kind of judge we want to uphold the laws of our great state through Florida’s high court,” said Wilson.

Judge Canady received his Bachelor’s degree from Haverford College and then immediately pursued his law degree at Yale. After graduating from Yale in 1979, Judge Canady returned to Florida and was admitted to the Florida Bar, at which time he began practicing law.

“The Governor has three more court appointments to make,” said Wilson. “If they’re anything like Judge Canady, there are great times ahead for Florida’s courts.”

[Dan Krassner, Florida Chamber of Commerce]

The Florida Chamber of Commerce supports today’s decision by Governor Charlie Crist to appoint Judge Charles Canady to an at-large seat on the Florida Supreme Court.

“This is a great day for Florida and we hope it’s a sign of more good things to come,” said Mark Wilson, president and CEO of the Florida Chamber of Commerce. “Judge Canady is well suited to serve on Florida’s high court. We’re optimistic that the Governor has signaled a trend with Judge Canady’s appointment that will continue with decisions on other vacancies.”

A lifelong resident of Florida, Judge Canady’s long track record includes serving in the Florida House of Representatives, U.S. Congress, as general counsel to Gov. Jeb Bush and through an appointment to Florida’s 2nd District Court of Appeals.

“Judge Canady is the kind of judge we want to uphold the laws of our great state through Florida’s high court,” said Wilson.

Judge Canady received his Bachelor’s degree from Haverford College and then immediately pursued his law degree at Yale. After graduating from Yale in 1979, Judge Canady returned to Florida and was admitted to the Florida Bar, at which time he began practicing law.

“The Governor has three more court appointments to make,” said Wilson. “If they’re anything like Judge Canady, there are great times ahead for Florida’s courts.”

GREAT PICK!

Woo Hoo! Excellent pick.

Wow, excellent choice!

Perfect first pick by Governor Crist!

Way to go governor, truly a solid choice.

Florida Chamber needs to get over itself...

[excellent]

finally a diversity choice for the court---at true classical liberal to those facsits liberals already on it.

Way to go, Charlie!!

Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a while.

Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a while.

[Mark]

Way to go Governor, you just appointed a man who in Congress, was consistently rated among the most anti clean air, clean water and clean energy representatives in the Florida delegation.

What else can you do in the span of just a few months to entirely undermine your goal of being one of Florida's great environmental governors?

This is the first great decision that Charlie has made as Governor. Canady will be a solid voice of reason for years to come on the Court.

Mark,
You better hope he isn't anti-idiot too.

[George]

Wow. I'm so excited. Now we have a better chance to protect big business banks and insurance companies. Screw the consumer...Yeah. No more little guy suing Bizness........yeah. No more civil rights, I can hardly contain myself. Say goodbye ladies to abortion and birth control and hello to Raiford prison......All right. You all deserve this guy and all the rest just like him.

Of course Charlie picked him... Republican closet cases unite

To the 3 loser Dems... no one cares what you think. It is just so much fun to see you annoyed.

Awesome pic!! Proud of you Charlie.

George, seems you have a little paranoia floating around. The key with a great jurist like Canady is that he does not have an agenda- if the legislature passes a liberal law, it is likely to survive, unless it explicitly contradicts a constitutional provision, and a conservative law is likely to meet the same fate. So if you wanted someone to give you from the bench what you could not convince the legislature to do, you are right, you are SOL. Canady's days of legislating are behind him.

Where does the new justice stand on abortion? Why is that being brought up, I am not aware of any State legislation moving forward that involves abortion.

[George]

You know not of what you speak. They all have agendas. Either they are there to protect the rights of the average citizen against those who exploit them or they are there to protect the exploitation and to protect the powerful. Hope you all don't need any justice any time soon. And by the way, what is a liberal law? somthing like consumer proetection or victim's rights? Enlighten me about those evil liberals.

[Omega83]

George,

Perhaps you should read up on the roles of the various levels of the judiciary...beware though, the black helicopters are circling.

[Charles]

This is a horseshit call! Canady is a hack and doesn't deserve to be on any bench, much less Florida's high court.

"Enlighten me about those evil liberals."

For one thing, litigation, especially frivilous litigation, disguised as "consumer protection" is nothing of the sort. It only serves to empower trial lawyers looking for a buck, while the cost of the litigation is passed down to you, the consumer.

Is that what you call "consumer protection"?

[Josh]

Judicial independence is what we need on the bench. A person such as Canady with his obvious political affiliations is absolutely not what we need. Just another sign of what's wrong with government. The Florida Chamber of Commerce's strong words in support of the pick only confirms the partisan nature of the pick. Nice pick for big business, horrible pick for real Florida consumers!

"Judicial independence is what we need on the bench"

Perhaps you missed the 2000 courts decisions/action in re: Bush v. Gore

[Karma]

Anon -
how do you really feel about this pick?
What experience do you have to claim that this is such a great pick? Are you an attorney or just a family member?

[Duane]

Another right wing christian fundamentalist extremist pick. Pretty soon you will be forced to pray before school. Supported by big business, too. What a great day for Florida.

"He was on the team of Congressional prosecutors that impeached President Bill Clinton."

That led to Gore not winning in key states, handing George Bush the presidency, resulting in a dismantling of basic civil rights, wars in a half dozen countries (two which are still going on), 4 million job losses, and a widening split between the rich and poor.

i guess we can blame this guy too

[George]

Omega83-- I Work with the judiciary. I see what happens. There are judges who vote for and uphold decisions that protect the little guy and give him a fair shake. Then there are the guys like this political appointee who are installed to screw the average guy and protect bizness. Republicans protect bizness and Charlie just showed his true colors. Even Jeb didnt appoint a Justice this bad. Bye bye right to privacy.

he is a babyboomer, and if there is one thing we can all agree on it's that you can never trust babyboomers.

the greatest generation raised the most pathetic one

[GR]

Charles Canady (R-Florida), Judiciary Committee member. A leading opponent of abortion, Canady lied to his constituents about his adulterous affair with Sharon Becker, which caused her divorce from Florida businessman Robert Becker.
http://www.liberalslikechrist.org/about/gopimmorality.html

Why is the Florida Chamber using the blog comments as a PR flack tool? Umm... self-centered much?

The appointment of this ideological zealot and Clinton impeachment prosecutor is a bone to the wacko primitives on the right fringe of the political spectrum. Crist reveals himself to be what he is--just a politician servicing constituencies as opportunities avail without any long-term vision for what society can be.

If the judgment Canady showed in the house during his impeachment efforts, they we've just got a man who sees partisanship as a battle between good and evil.

Shame on Charlie.

The people slamming Canady don't know him. Charles is an excellent judge and will serve the state well on the supreme court. Congratulations Governor.

[Josh]

I do know him and he is not an excellent judge. He is a judge with an agenda: a right wing agenda. We need judges who have no agendas, whether on the right or the left. He will do nothing but help big business in Florida. And this is the "People's Governor"? Total hypocrisy.

Yeah, Josh, the non-partisan opinion.

Josh, prove it up that you know him as a judge- talk is cheap- lets see one example of an opinion he decided based on an agenda not the law. Every opinion he ever wrote is available for review online.

This pick for the Florida Supreme Court shows that Govenor Crist will likely pick more right-wing extremists rather than judicious justices.

“This is a sad and horrible day for Florida and we hope it’s not to be a sign of more awful things to come,” said Mark Wilson, president and CEO of the Florida Chamber of Commerce.

“Judge Canady is extremely ill-suited to serve on Florida’s high court. We’re pessimistic that the Governor has signaled a trend with Judge Canady’s appointment that will continue with decisions on other vacancies.”

One gay man appoints another gay man to the bench.

Yeah - finally getting someone who isn't a liberal! Yeah!