The Florida Supreme Court has repealed amendments to two Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission rules, which authorized its investigative and hearing panels to keep certain high court filings hush-hush.

According to the court, the amendments are “beyond the commission's authority under the Florida Constitution” and are “inconsistent” with Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.420, which governs public access to judicial branch records.

The judicial administration rule lists a variety of circumstances in which confidentiality is necessary.

These include protecting trade secrets or a governmental interest, avoiding “substantial injury” to innocent third parties, and preventing “a serious and imminent threat to the fair, impartial, and orderly administration of justice.”

The JQC, which has independently investigated alleged misconduct by Florida state judges since 1966, submitted the amendments for review on July 24, 2017.

The first alteration came in the form of an extra sentence tacked onto Rule 6(k), authorizing the JQC's investigative panel to designate certain filings confidential.

The second was a new rule, 20(b), which gave the hearing panel the ability to “designate portions of the record, findings, and recommendation confidential,” subject to further order of the Florida Supreme Court.

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Read the Florida Supreme Court's ruling on the amendments:

According to the JQC's website, its investigative panel functions “much like a grand jury,” while its hearing panel “serves as a special master” in the way it compiles findings of fact and recommends sanctions to the Florida Supreme Court.

The JQC's amendments also suggested that confidential “materials” would include those already listed in Rule 2.420, as well as “other medical and psychological records, or filings referencing those materials.”

The panel of justices published its decision per curiam, ruling that only the Florida Legislature has the power to create new exemptions of that nature.

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