Opinion ID: 1702151
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: the answer

Text: As the foregoing review illustrates, since 1957 the Florida constitutional structure for Florida's judicial system has been for decisions of the district courts of appeal to be final decisions. Though in various instances opinions from this Court have seemed to erode this constitutional structure, our precedent has always come back to what this Court recognized in 1958 in Ansin that decisions of the district courts are final. The necessity for district court decisions to be recognized as the final law until reversed on their merits in this Court structure stems from the limited jurisdiction of the Florida Supreme Court. As has been set forth, this Court only has the power of review in expressly delineated instances. This Court has no power to reach down and assume jurisdiction in a case to correct what this Court perceives as error, even if the issue appears to this Court to be important or involves the construction of a statute. [23] Under this court structure, a decision of a district court construing a statute can remain in effect indefinitely, [24] and if there is no conflict with another district court opinion and no certification of an issue by a district court, a United States Circuit Court of Appeals, or the United States Supreme Court, then this Court has no jurisdiction to review the district court decision. [25] The district court decision would have to be followed by trial courts in all sixty-seven of Florida's counties. Pardo v. State, 596 So.2d 665 (Fla.1992). To hold that such a district court decision is subject to being void ab initio creates chaos in the Florida court system because all trial court decisions throughout Florida which were required to follow the district court decision would thus become void. [26] Such a decision would likewise wreak havoc on the sentencing structure of the judicial system in the context of this case in that if district court decisions are not considered final, all sentences that are dependent upon a conviction being final would become unraveled. It is simply incorrect under Florida's court structure to conclude that a decision from this Court on a point of law that is contrary to a district court decision does not change that law. Since the district courts of appeal were created, Florida's judicial system has depended upon the principle that the decisions of the district courts are final as is required for the stable operation of justice. Justice Ehrlich was without a doubt correct in the original Bass decision. It was because Justice Ehrlich was correct that this Court granted rehearing in Bass and answered the certified question in Hall in the negative.