TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Conservative Polston Picked For Florida's High Court

ADVERTISEMENT

By CATHERINE DOLINSKI

The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 2, 2008

TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Charlie Crist has chosen conservative appellate Judge Ricky L. Polston to sit on the Florida Supreme Court.

Polston, of the 1st District Court of Appeal, takes the place of retiring Justice Kenneth Bell. He is Crist's second appointment to the state's highest bench this year, following Charles Canady, who was sworn in last month.

"I have taken care in selecting this justice," the governor said of Polston, 52, on Wednesday. "I think it's important to understand that people who have the kind of humility and humanity and fairness are the people I'm looking for. And I have found such a man in now-Justice Polston."

The selection, however, drew outcry from the Florida Association of Planned Parenthood Affiliates, which criticized Polston for volunteering to defend the state's anti-abortion license plate in court. The license plate, approved by lawmakers in 1999, funds "crisis pregnancy centers," some of which are believed to pressure women out of having abortions.

Asked Wednesday about his judicial philosophy, Polston said he does not intend to be an activist jurist: "I would not legislate from the bench."

As an appellate judge, Polston wrote the dissenting opinion in the 2002 case of Bush. v. Holmes, in which the 1st District Court of Appeal and state Supreme Court struck down a school voucher program championed by then-Gov. Jeb Bush. Polston rejected the majority opinion on the bench that the Opportunity Scholarship program violated a constitutional ban on spending state money on religious organizations including schools.

The case is a connection that links Polston to Justice Canady, whom Crist tapped in August to replace resigning Justice Raoul Cantero. Canady was a top attorney for Bush during the Bush v. Holmes case and defended the voucher program in court.

"It's a little surprising" that Crist would choose two such conservative judges, considering the other appointments he has made across party lines, said Darryl Paulson, political scientist at the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg. As an example, he cited Crist's recent appointment of George Sheldon to head the Department of Children & Families, as well as that of Sheldon's predecessor, Bob Butterworth.

Canady and Polston will obviously appeal to the conservative base of the Republican party, said Paulson, a Crist supporter.

"Crist backed away from some of Bush's policies and replaced some of Bush's appointees with his own," Paulson said. "That did create somewhat of a rift between the Bush and Crist wings of the party. Potentially, this could be done to soothe some of those disputes."

Polston grew up on his family's farm in the small town of Graceville, where he was a high school valedictorian before attending Florida State University as an undergraduate and law student. He joined the 1st District Court of Appeal in 2001 and has ruled in more than 6,000 appellate cases. He worked in the Tampa Bay area as a certified public accountant prior to pursing his law career.

Don Weidner, dean of the Florida State University College of Law, declined to comment on Polston's judicial rulings but described him as soft-spoken and "a gentleman in the best sense of the word."

"I don't think he has an arrogant cell in his body," Weidner said.

Polston and his wife of 31 years, Deborah Ehler Polston, are parents to 10 biological and adopted children. After the last of their four biological daughters was grown, they adopted six brothers from state foster care, ages 1 through 15.

Polston said the experience has given him a deeper appreciation for the challenges of the foster care system and for the importance of Crist's initiative to increase adoptions. "It gave us, also, an appreciation for litigants who go through the court system, who sometimes find delays, because it's a very frustrating process."

When two more justices reach the mandatory retirement age of 70 next year, Crist will wind up appointing the majority of the state's Supreme Court - an authority that the governor described Wednesday as "overwhelming."

Paulson predicted that at least one will be a more politically moderate choice. "It'd be hard to pick four justices, all from the same vein," he said. "Although, I could see maybe three out of four."

Reporter Catherine Dolinski can be reached at (850) 222-8382 or cdolinski@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT