2018 November Election Guide: Judges

Here, belatedly (early voting has already begun!), is Part I of some recommendations on the undercard of your ballot. I will start with the judges. Future parts forthcoming Real Soon Now™ will be coming soon.

In my part of South Florida we have four appellate Judges up for retention, and one run-off election for state Circuit Judge on the 11th Judicial Circuit.

I intend to vote to retain all four District Court of Appeal Judges:

▪Kevin Emas: Yes
▪Ivan F. Fernandez: Yes
▪Norma Shepard Lindsey: Yes
▪Robert Joshua Luck: Yes

All have good ratings from the Florida Bar poll:
Kevin Emas: 92 percent.
Ivan F. Fernandez: 87 percent.
Norma Shepard Lindsey: 85 percent.
Robert Joshua Luck: 90 percent.

As I’ve said before, I approach retention elections with a presumption that Judges should be retained unless they have given us a good reason not to do so; happily, to the best of my knowledge, there’s no such reason in any of these four cases.

In the run-off for Group 14 of the state 11th Judicial Circuit (not to be confused with the federal appeals court of that name!), I endorsed Renee Gordon in August and I’m going to vote for her again, as opposed to Vivianne del Rio, the other candidate who survived the first round. As I wrote in August,

I endorsed Renee Gordon the last time she ran, noting that she is is a “former Public Defender who has been litigating for 20+ years, of which twelve were in private practice. She also has a long resume of working with troubled children in various managerial and legal capacities. This is a great background for a Judge – in the trenches and there for a long time.” She almost won last time, and I’ll vote for her again. That said, both other candidates, Louis Martinez and Vivianne del Rio, sound like people who would make decent judges. Del Rio is an ASA, Martinez is a former AUSA. FWIW, the Herald endorses Gordon too.

Happily, whoever wins we should be fine.