Florida Supreme Court history

Board of Wardens (1852), where the Court held that areas requiring national uniformity would be the exclusive domain of Congress, while other matters of commercial regulation would be the purview of states.

In 1853 an amendment provided for the election by the people of the Justices for six-year terms.

Taney strongly believed in his Dred Scott decision, writing to Franklin Pierce in 1857 that he believed with "abiding confidence that this act of my judicial life will stand the test of time and the sober judgment of the country."

The Confederate constitution of 1861 empowered the governor to appoint justices, with assistance from the Senate.

By the time of Taney's death in 1864, he was largely viewed as a villain and the Supreme Court felt the public's trust and respect declining.

In response, they passed the Tenure of Office Act in March of 1867.

In 1868 following the Civil War, a new Constitution was adopted calling for a Chief Justice and two Associate Justices to be appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate.

The number of justices reached eight before Congress, after Johnson had left office, adopted new legislation (1869) setting the number at nine, where it has remained ever since.

In 1873, Congress changed the start of a new term to the second Monday in October.

The Removal Act of 1875, most importantly, expanded the original and appellate jurisdiction of the federal courts, which led to a dramatic increase in the Court’s caseload.

The 1885 Constitution provided for the election by the people of three Supreme Court Justices to serve six-year terms.

The Evarts Acts of 1891 had created intermediate federal courts of appeal and finally brought an end to the practice of circuit riding.

The Supreme Court in 1892, under the chief justiceship of Melville Fuller, a few years before the Court’s trio of pro-capitalist rulings.

The nation underwent rapid economic expansion and industrialization during this period, and a trio of controversial decisions in 1895 put the Court squarely on the side of capitalists (see Figure 3).

Ferguson (1896), under the chief justiceship of Melville Fuller, the Court upheld a Louisiana law that provided for separate but equal railway cars for whites and blacks.

When Congress abolished the circuit courts in 1911, it finally made the justices' circuit duty optional.

In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson appointed Brandeis to the Court, making him the first Jewish justice.

Children’s Hospital (1924). When the Great Depression hit and President Franklin Roosevelt enacted measures to bring about economic recovery and reform, the “Four Horsemen” stuck to their constitutional principles, thereby thwarting the president’s agenda.

Most important, the Judiciary Act of 1925 replaced mandatory review of appeals with discretionary review.

A constitutional amendment in 1926 provided that the Chief Justice be selected by the Justices of the Court; this is the current method of selection.

Figure 5. “The Marble Palace.” The Supreme Court building, made of white marble, opened in 1935.

After his landslide reelection in 1936, Roosevelt responded by proposing a bill that would have added up to six justices to the Court.

One notable attempt to increase the number of Associate Justices came from President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who proposed the Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937.

Franklin Roosevelt appointed both men to the Supreme Court in June 1941.

Wainwright (1962). The Court advanced the notion of separation of church and state, striking down a New York state prayer said in public schools as a violation of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause in Engel v.

Arizona (1966), while expanding the right to counsel in Gideon v.

There was perhaps no greater symbol of the period than President Lyndon B. Johnson’s appointment in 1967 of Thurgood Marshall, the lead attorney for the NAACP in Brown, as the first African American associate justice on the Supreme Court.

Warren’s retirement in 1968, as well as the resignation of fellow liberal Abe Fortas, created the first two of four openings on the Court eventually filled by Nixon.30

Until 1978, the Court had a formal recess in July and August, though it would reconvene for matters of national significance.

Casey (1992), five justices—all appointed by Republicans—affirmed a woman’s right to an abortion.

Historical Information | Presidential Election 2000

Federal Election Commission (2010), the same majority built on a Burger-era precedent in holding that corporate donations to independent political broadcasts were free speech protected by the First Amendment, thus opening the door for more money to flow into the nation’s political system.

On this debate, see David E. Bernstein, Rehabilitating Lochner: Defending Individual Rights Against Progressive Reform (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011); Paul Kens, Judicial Power and Reform Politics: The Anatomy of Lochner v.

Windsor, 570 United States ___ (2013); Obergefell v.

Georgia, 2 United States 419 (1793); Hayburn’s Case, 2 United States 409 (1792); and Matthew Van Hook, “Founding the Third Branch: Judicial Greatness and John Jay’s Reluctance,” Journal of Supreme Court History 40 (2015): 1–19.

As Chief Justice Charles Canady noted in opening the session, Grosshans was actually appointed to the court on September 14, 2020, by Gov.

Rosenblatt, who died in November 2021 from acute myeloid leukemia, was the historical society’s First Vice President and longtime supporter.