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Give Me More Power To Appoint Judges, Scott Says

TALLAHASSEE (CBS4)- Gov. Rick Scott said Wednesday that he would like to see a bill return that would give him more say in who he can appoint to the judicial bench.

A bill that passed the House earlier this year, but failed to pass the Senate would have given the governor sole discretion in appointing members to a seven member board that would make judicial nominations from which the governor would choose.

Currently, the governor chooses from a list sent to him by a nine member nominating board, five of whom are appointed directly by the governor. The governor also gets to choose the other four members, but he must choose from a list of nominees put forth by the Florida Bar.

Scott would like total control over the process, he said Wednesday in an interview on WFLA Radio in Tallahassee.

"When you're elected governor people expect you to not have a limit on who you can appoint," Scott said.

 

(©2011 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The News Service of Florida contributed material for this report)

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