Herald endorsement: Two Florida Supreme court justices deserve a 'no' on retention vote

[In It to Win It]

Miami Herald

No paywall

Florida Supreme Court Justices Renatha Francis and Meredith Sasso are up for a retention vote.


Usually, retention votes for Florida Supreme Court justices are routine matters. Not this year.

Up for retention on the Nov. 5 general election ballot are Justices Renatha Francis and Meredith Sasso, two appointees of Gov. Ron DeSantis. The justices’ efforts to stop voters from having their say on two important ballot issues — recreational marijuana and abortion rights — should earn them a resounding “no” vote from the people of Florida.

Florida has never failed to retain a Supreme Court justice. This should be the time.

Francis and Sasso were the only two justices who in April voted against allowing the recreational marijuana constitutional amendment on the ballot.

The state Supreme Court has a very limited and technical role when it comes constitutional amendments. The justices are supposed to review the wording to make sure that it addresses a single subject, is clear and is constitutional. That’s it. The review is not supposed to be an excuse to get rid of amendments that the justices may not like.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office opposed the amendment saying that it would be misleading to voters and was not limited to a single subject because it would both decriminalize and commercialize recreational marijuana. Francis and Sasso were the only two who bought into that thinnest of arguments. Fortunately, the majority of the justices disagreed and trusted the people to make the decision in November.

And then there was their far more egregious vote on the proposed abortion amendment.

Again, Francis and Sasso voted to keep Amendment 4 off the ballot. It was a 4-3 vote, with Francis and Sasso joining Justice Jamie Grosshans in opposing it.