UPDATE @ 5:30 PM:
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Should judges who have committed ethical violations be permitted to appear via Zoom for their public reprimands?
Should the Supreme Court allow them to hang their heads in shame from the comfort of a location of their choosing, given the ongoing public health emergency?
Or should public reprimands in the age of Covid-19 go forward or be reset to a safer date, so errant judges can appear like all other Judicial Canon violators live and in-person before the full body of Florida’s highest court?
Scott Cupp and Richard Howard, set for reprimands in Tallahassee on September 1st and 2nd, respectively, have both filed motions asking to take their medicine via Zoom.
(click the names above to read the motions)
Will the Supreme Court dispense with years of tradition, and the added punishment component of a public reprimand actually occurring in public on humbling, unfriendly terrain, by allowing an electronic appearance? Or should the motions be denied, given the sheer number of everyday ordinary people/litigants/jurors and staff compelled to come to court daily during the pandemic for things like misdemeanor jury trials with out of custody defendants?
YOU MAKE THE CALL!