Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Photo: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg.

When Melbourne attorney Alan Landman resigned as chair of Florida's 18th Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission — at the governor's request — he didn't go quietly. His resignation letter, first published by Politico, accused Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' office of “micro-managing” the JNC's selection process.

But is the criticism fair in light of the governor's power to appoint judges?

The JNC is an independent advisory panel that recommends judicial candidates to the governor, who selects among those finalists to fill vacancies across Florida courts. Landman oversaw the commission covering Brevard and Seminole counties.

It's normal for a governor to recommend candidates to the JNC before it decides who belongs on the shortlist. But Landman claimed DeSantis encroached on the JNC's independence and autonomy when he “required” a specific applicant to make the cut.

DeSantis asked Landman to step down for a rule violation after the then-JNC chair expressed his support for one of the finalists seeking a gubernatorial appointment to the Brevard Circuit Court bench. After the JNC submitted its shortlist, the governor's office said Landman then supported Brevard County Judge Michelle Naberhaus and made his choice clear to the governor's deputy general counsel Nick Primrose.

But evidently, there was also another issue.

Landman's resignation letter cited ”philosophical differences” over a candidate's appointment. It claimed the real issue was a disagreement about Seminole County General Magistrate Tesha Ballou, who the JNC had initially ruled out on meritorial grounds.

Read the resignation letter:

The JNC had given the governor a shortlist of four applicants, but Landman said DeSantis' team asked for that to be expanded to six people — one of whom had to be Ballou.

The governor then selected Ballou and appointed her to the Brevard County Court on Jun. 5, filling a spot created by Judge Tonya Rainwater's elevation.

Landman said he's never been pressured to shortlist a specific candidate in his more than 10 years as chair and said prior administrations under Rick Scott and Charlie Crist never rejected a shortlist or insisted on a specific number of candidates.

That's because the JNC, in Landman's view, is in the best position to properly vet applicants.

Jan Jacobowitz, professor of law at the University of Miami School of Law.

“The JNC are comprised of lawyers and citizens who are closely connected to the community,” Landman said. “We spend a lot of time reviewing the applications. We speak to references, we talk to judges. We vet people to determine who is and is not qualified. Obviously, that does not occur to such a degree at the governor's level.”

Florida's governor is supposed to follow the process, using the JNC's shortlist to make his choices for the trial, appellate and supreme court, according to University of Miami law professor Jan Jacobowitz, who specializes in legal ethics.

“If he doesn't like the 'slate' that is presented then he has to request a new one,” Jacobowitz said. “The Judicial Nominating Committee operates in accordance with concepts of checks on executive power and representative government.”

 

'He knows better than this'

DeSantis' director of communications Helen Ferre denied any wrongdoing by her team and pointed out that Landman was asked to resign for violating a rule.

“Alan Landman knows that there are ethical duties in the JNC rules that must be followed,” Ferre said via email. “Unfortunately, Landman violated these rules and lobbied for a specific candidate, for which he was asked to resign. Landman acknowledges violating these rules in his resignation letter. He knows better than this.”

Ferre also claimed that Landman had limited the governor's ability to choose the most qualified candidates by overlooking Seminole County when recruiting for the two-county circuit.

Ballou is the first Seminole County attorney to land a Brevard Circuit judgeship.

But Landman suggests this is because only one other Seminole County candidate has applied for a Brevard seat.

“Brevard lawyers tend not to practice in Seminole and vice versa. Lawyers tend not to want to close their practice in a different county and move if they get a position,” Landman said. “From a practical standpoint, it just doesn't happen.”

In an email the day after Ballou's appointment, Landman pushed back against DeSantis' request that he resign, claiming he wasn't aware of the rule he violated but would ensure he followed it if he was allowed to continue on the commission.

But Landman's efforts to stay on proved to be in vain by June 17, when he formally resigned.

“I concur with your position that it is best for me to resign from the committee and allow the governor to appoint individuals who are more amiable and open-minded as to how the current administration desires the process to occur,” Landman's letter said.

Landman called his departure “very frustrating.”

“I think that the independence and the autonomy of the JNC was invaded by what the governor's office did,” he said.

Landman said he never personally dealt with DeSantis throughout this process, instead butting heads with his general counsel and associate general counsel. Landman had been a vocal supporter of DeSantis, even hosting a fundraiser for him before he was elected.

“I'm not even aware if and to what degree the governor was aware of what was going on,” Landman said.

Landman was appointed by Crist in 2008 and has been a trial lawyer for 32 years. He said it's been a privilege to be part of the JNC's process.

“It's easy to complain, as a lawyer, about judges. It's much more difficult to do something about it,” Landman said. “I've had the opportunity over the last decade to ensure that we have some of the finest jurists who are educated, knowledgeable, have integrity. So it's been an honor. And to be honest, I would still be doing it if the current administration acted consistent with prior administrations.”

Landman's term would have ended in 2020.

 

Read more: 

Judges Speak Out: Retiring Justices Don't Approve of Gov. Rick Scott's Rush to Replace Them

4 Women Sit on 3rd DCA for the First Time After Miami Judge, Prosecutor Rise to Bench