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Robert Pleus
Robert Pleus Jr. is a former intermediate appellate judge for Florida's Fifth District Court of Appeals. He retired from the court in September of 2008, but his successor, Bruce Jacobus, was not appointed until August of 2009.
Retirement controversy
Judges for appellate courts in Florida are vetted by a nominating commission who gives recommendations to the Governor, who must then appoint one of them. Crist returned the list of nominees to replace Pleus to the nominating commission, saying that the lack of recommendations for qualified non-white judges was unacceptable, and requested a new list of candidates. The commission responded by re-submitting the same list of candidates. Pleus sued Crist to require him to name an appointment to succeed him. The Supreme Court ruled that the Governor was constitutionally obligated to make a selection from the list provided by the commission.[1]
"I believe passionately that the governor has an obligation under the constitution to make the appointment and he didn’t do it. He took an oath" said Pleus.[2]
Footnotes
