If we overwork these judges . . . Afterwards, Ritter said she was not satisfied with Pruitt's answer and with claims that lawmakers had to choose between pay raises and more judges. All it means is people will just wait that much longer to get due process. This is a concerted effort to usurp the authority of the judiciary. . . . In reality, we need to adequately fund all branches of our state government.
All branches are essential for a well-functioning government.
Rep. J. Dudley Goodlette, R-Naples, also a former Bar Board of Governors member, disagreed with Heyman's and Ritter's assessments, adding he doubts decisions of any courts would be influenced by the legislature's actions on appropriations. Lawmakers had reservations because preliminary indications were that the certified need for new judges would be around 20, and more than double that number were requested, he said. The feeling was we couldn't do both. He said after last year's session, lawmakers got feedback from judges that they would have preferred raises to the new judges authorized. Goodlette first supported a constitutional amendment to add two members to the Supreme Court and, when that appeared unlikely to pass, an amendment to another bill to create the commission to study the court's workload.