GOP opposes justices standing for retention.

What started as a whisper campaign against three justices up for merit retention has become a loud shout backed by the political muscle of the Republican Party of Florida.

In an unprecedented move September 21, the Republican Party of Florida's executive committee unanimously voted to oppose the retention of Justices Fred Lewis, Barbara Pariente, and Peggy Quince, after what Chair Lenny Curry described as "a grassroots groundswell" of party members who are "fed up with these justices."

"The grassroots opposition to these judges stems from a long list of cases in which these justices have injected their political views," Curry wrote in an op-ed piece printed in many Florida newspapers.

After that vote to oust the justices, Curry said, "Almost immediately, their political allies went into attack mode, accusing Florida Republicans of crashing a party that only the Bar association, trial lawyers, and special-interest groups were invited to attend."

Florida Bar President Gwynne Young stresses that The Florida Bar is a nonpartisan, mandatory-membership organization that does not endorse or support the retention of any justice or judge but wants to educate the public about merit retention and the role of judges and justices.

"A fair and impartial judiciary, free from political or special interest influence, is the purpose of Florida's nonpartisan merit retention elections for appellate judges. The Florida Bar does not believe any political party--Democratic, Republican, or other--should participate in any nonpartisan election, particularly for judicial positions," Young said.

"Maintaining the integrity and impartiality of Florida's judges is critical to preserving the principles of democracy on which our country was founded. Nonpartisan merit retention elections were established by the people of Florida to ensure that the rule of law, not popular thought or political views, is the basis for all judicial decisions."

The GOP's Curry continued: "The charge of 'injecting politics' in what is already an issue before the voters is nonsense of the highest order. Judges in Florida are appointed by politicians. They decide political cases all the time. And they take political contributions --lots of them. In fact, long before the Republican Party of Florida voted to oppose them, these justices had been busy raising money by holding fundraisers, and cashing check after check from politically active donors, lobbyists, unions, and other special-interest groups."

Bracing for what they consider an attack on an independent judiciary that has already occurred in Iowa, Florida's...