Ricky Polston
Ricky Polston was a judge of the Florida Supreme Court. He assumed office on October 2, 2008. He left office on March 31, 2023.
Polston ran for re-election for judge of the Florida Supreme Court. He won in the retention election on November 8, 2022.
Polston was appointed to the court by Gov. Charlie Crist (R) on Oct. 1, 2008, to replace retiring Justice Kenneth Bell.[1][2] He was retained by voters in 2010 and 2016.
Polston retired from the court on March 31, 2023.[3] To learn more about this vacancy, click here.
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[4] Polston received a confidence score of Mild Republican.[5] Click here to read more about this study.
Polston served as the chief justice of the court from 2012 to 2014.[6] Prior to his appointment to the state supreme court, Polston served as a judge on the Florida First District Court of Appeal and worked as an adjunct law professor at Florida State University.[7]
Biography
Polston was born in Dothan, Alabama, on November 20, 1955.[8] He received an associate degree from Chipola Junior College in 1975 and a bachelor's degree from Florida State University in 1977.[7] He worked as an accountant from 1977 to 1984 before returning to Florida State University where he earned his law degree in 1986.[7]
Polston worked as an attorney in private practice from 1987 to 2000.[7] In 2001, Gov. Jeb Bush (R) appointed Polston to the Florida First District Court of Appeal, where he served until Gov. Charlie Crist (R) appointed him to state supreme court in 2008.[1][9] During his time as a judge, Polston also worked as an adjunct law professor at Florida State University.[7]
Elections
2022
See also: Florida Supreme Court elections, 2022
Florida Supreme Court, Ricky Polston's seat
Ricky Polston was retained to the Florida Supreme Court on November 8, 2022 with 63.0% of the vote.
Retention Vote |
% |
Votes |
|||
| ✔ | Yes |
63.0
|
4,240,078 | ||
No |
37.0
|
2,486,947 | |||
Total Votes |
6,727,025 | ||||
|
|
2016
- See also: Florida Supreme Court elections, 2016
Polston was retained by voters on November 8, 2016, receiving 67.8% of the vote.[10]
| Florida Supreme Court, Associate Justice 2016 general election results | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | Percent | ||
Ricky Polston 
|
5,193,244 | 67.8% | ||
| Against retention | 2,466,319 | 32.2% | ||
2010
- See also: Florida judicial elections, 2010
Polston was retained by voters on November 2, 2010, receiving 66.1% of the vote.[11]
| Florida Supreme Court, Associate Justice 2010 general election results | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | Percent | ||
| Ricky Polston
|
2,917,344 | 66.1% | ||
| Against retention | 1,494,754 | 33.9% | ||
Appointments
2008
Polston was appointed to the Florida Supreme Court by Gov. Charlie Crist (R) on Oct. 1, 2008, to replace retiring Justice Kenneth Bell.[1][7]
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
Last updated: June 15, 2020
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.
The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[12]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[13]
- Mild Republican
- Strong Republican
This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.
Ricky
Polston
Florida
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Republican - Judicial Selection Method:
Assisted appointment through governor controlled judicial nominating commission - Key Factors:
- Donated less than $2,000 to Republican candidates
- Appointed by a Republican governor
- State was a Republican trifecta at time of appointment
Partisan Profile
Details:
Polston donated $300 to a Republican candidate. He was appointed by Gov. Charlie Crist (R) in 2008. At the time of his appointment, Florida was a Republican trifecta.
Other Indicators:
In a 2012 study of campaign contributions, Polston received a campaign finance score of 0.83, indicating a conservative ideological leaning.
Bonica and Woodruff campaign finance scores (2012)
In October 2012, political science professors Adam Bonica and Michael Woodruff of Stanford University attempted to determine the partisan ideology of state supreme court justices. They created a scoring system in which a score above 0 indicated a more conservative-leaning ideology, while scores below 0 were more liberal.
Polston received a campaign finance score of 0.83, indicating a conservative ideological leaning. This was more conservative than the average score of 0.51 that justices received in Florida.
The study was based on data from campaign contributions by the judges themselves, the partisan leaning of those who contributed to the judges' campaigns, or, in the absence of elections, the ideology of the appointing body (governor or legislature). This study was not a definitive label of a justice, but an academic summary of various relevant factors.[14]
Noteworthy cases
Noteworthy cases may be selected due to their impact on legal precedent, substantial media attention, or overlaps with another area of editorial interest at Ballotpedia. To suggest cases we should cover here, email us.
State supreme court judicial selection in Florida
- See also: Judicial selection in Florida
The seven justices of the Florida Supreme Court are selected through the assisted appointment method. A judicial nominating commission consisting of nine members who are appointed by the governor to four-year terms screens potential judicial candidates.[15] The commission submits a list of three to six nominees to the governor, and the governor must then appoint a judge from the list.[16]
Newly appointed judges serve for at least one year, after which they appear in a yes-no retention election held during the next general election. If retained, judges serve six-year terms.[16] Under the Florida constitution, a judge must retire at age 75; however, a judge who reaches 75 after serving at least half of his or her term may complete that term.[17]
Qualifications
To serve on the court, a judge must be:
- a qualified elector;
- a state resident;
- admitted to practice law in the state for 10 years before assuming the bench; and
- under the age of 75.
Chief justice
The chief justice of the supreme court is selected by peer vote. He or she serves in that capacity for two years.[16]
Vacancies
If a midterm vacancy occurs, the seat is filled as it normally would be if the vacancy occurred at the end of a judge's term. A judicial nominating commission recommends three to six qualified candidates to the governor, and the governor selects a successor from that list. The new appointee serves for at least one year before running in a yes-no retention election.[16]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Ricky Polston did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
See also
2022 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Crist was a Republican at the time he appointed Polston, but later switched his party affiliation to Democrat.
- ↑ Dothan Eagle, "Jackson County native appointed to Florida Supreme Court," Oct. 1, 2008
- ↑ Florida Politics, "Ron DeSantis to get 5th Supreme Court pick as Rick Polston retires from Florida Supreme Court," accessed March 31, 2023
- ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
- ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
- ↑ The Florida Bar, "Polston Elected Chief Justice," April 1, 2012
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 Florida Supreme Court, "Justice Ricky Polston," accessed June 22, 2021
- ↑ Prabook, "Ricky L. Polston," accessed June 22, 2021
- ↑ Tampa Bay Times, "Polston to Join State Supreme Court," Oct. 2, 2008
- ↑ Florida Secretary of State, "Official Results," accessed June 22, 2021
- ↑ Florida Secretary of State, "Official results," accessed June 22, 2021
- ↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
- ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
- ↑ Stanford University, "State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns," October 31, 2012
- ↑ American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Florida; Judicial Nominating Commissions," archived January 13, 2012
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial selection: Florida," archived October 2, 2014
- ↑ Florida Constitution, "Article V, Section 8," accessed September 10, 2021
Federal courts:
Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Middle District of Florida, Northern District of Florida, Southern District of Florida • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Middle District of Florida, Northern District of Florida, Southern District of Florida
State courts:
Florida Supreme Court • Florida District Courts of Appeal • Florida Circuit Court • Florida County Court
State resources:
Courts in Florida • Florida judicial elections • Judicial selection in Florida
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