FL Supreme Court justice, grandson of former Cuban dictator Batista, to step down (Jeb-appointed)

[seafan]

Now is Governor Crist's opportunity to moderate this court. Reversing the legacy of Jeb Bush, one day at a time...



Fla. Supreme Court's 1st Hispanic justice to resign in September



New Florida Supreme Court Justice Raoul Cantero III, second from right, stands with wife, Ana Maria, son, Michael, and daughter Elisa, next to Gov. Jeb Bush on Wednesday. Cantero is the first Hispanic appointed to the high court. (July 11, 2002)


By BILL KACZOR
Associated Press Writer
April 11, 2008

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Raoul Cantero III, the first Hispanic to serve on the Florida Supreme Court and one of its most conservative members, said Friday he is resigning in September for personal reasons.
The 47-year-old justice was appointed to the court in 2002 by then-Gov. Jeb Bush, a Republican. He said it has been difficult for his family to leave their Miami hometown.
"They still call Miami home," Cantero said. "I always considered like I was kind of a judge for a day, somebody that didn't belong here that they let to be here for a day, and it happened to be six years worth."

Cantero's resignation letter was delivered Friday morning to Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, who will make his first appointment to the state's seven-member high court. First, though, the Supreme Court Nominating Commission will seek applicants and recommend at least three finalists to the governor.
Cantero joined with Justice Kenneth Bell as the high court's most conservative members. They are the only justices solely appointed by Bush. When Bush was governor-elect in 1998 he agreed to appoint Justice Peggy Quince jointly with outgoing Democratic Gov. Lawton Chiles, who died in office four days later.

Cantero said Friday that his most memorable case was the 2004 ruling that struck down a law Bush had rushed through the Legislature in an attempt to keep brain-damaged Terri Schiavo alive. In an opinion written by Justice Barbara Pariente the justices ruled the law unconstitutionally attempted to reverse lower court decisions permitting the removal of the woman's feeding tube. With the tube removed, Schiavo died.

.....

Cantero, the court's most junior member, wrote opinions that upheld a law allowing child molesters to be sentenced to life in prison without parole and ruled sex offenders can be held indefinitely if they have violent crimes on their records under the state's Jimmy Ryce Act.
"Snowbirds" and other part-time Florida residents who insure their cars back home cannot make claims under more-favorable Florida laws, Cantero wrote for the court.
In another auto insurance case, Cantero wrote that crash victims who lose personal injury lawsuits against insurance companies may be required to pay the insurers' legal fees in some cases.

.....

Cantero is Florida's 80th justice. A native of Madrid, Spain, he is the son of Cuban exiles who fled the communist regime and later settled in Florida in the 1960s. He is a grandson of former Cuban leader Fulgencio Batista.

Cantero said the fact he has three teenage children has made it important for him to return to Miami where he plans to go back to private practice. He said he has received some offers but has no firm plans.

.....

Selection a swipe at activist high court

By JULIE HAUSERMAN, Times Staff Writer
St. Petersburg Times
July 11, 2002

TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Jeb Bush on Wednesday used his appointment of Raoul Cantero III to the Florida Supreme Court to lash out at judges who stretch their legal boundaries.
"Increasingly," said Bush, posed strategically with the Supreme Court's white columns as a backdrop, "courts have seized control over policy decisions that are not theirs to make."
The courts, he said, "are not mini-legislatures or governors."

Bush's comments reflect the tension that has existed among the Supreme Court, the Republican governor and the Legislature during the past four years. Bush and lawmakers have seen the courts strike down priority efforts such as abortion and the death penalty.

.....

Cantero has never been a judge before. He is a conservative Catholic, like Bush. The governor insists that Cantero's political views were not a factor in his appointment. And Wednesday, Cantero was mum on those views.

When asked whether he opposes the death penalty, Cantero said: "I have no views."
Florida Supreme Court justices spend about half their time on death penalty cases.

Cantero's views on abortion are known: He wrote a letter to the editor of the Miami Herald in 1993 to defend anti-abortion protesters, saying: "Abortions kill children."
When asked about abortion Wednesday, Cantero said: "My personal views on any particular issue will not keep me from applying the law, whatever the law is."

Cantero is a grandson of former Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. His nomination prompted a flood of support from Cuban-Americans.

It also sparked controversy because Cantero helped defend Orlando Bosch, an anti-Castro extremist who was labeled a terrorist by the U.S. government for his purported ties to bombing raids on Cuba. Bosch was held in a Venezuelan prison for years on charges of masterminding the October 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed all 73 people on board. He was acquitted three times and said he had nothing to do with it, but he supported it.

The Justice Department had ordered Bosch deported because of his terrorist ties, but his attorneys negotiated a deal that let him stay in Miami.

Cantero appeared on a Miami radio talk show in 1989 and called Bosch a "Cuban patriot."

When asked about Bosch, Bush said: "Everybody has a right to an attorney. I have no problems that Raoul was part of the team that represented Orlando Bosch."

.....

One day at a time...

[Name removed]

1. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Demeter]

2. Any Idea Why He's Quitting?

I thought all GOP judges were like leeches, and only let go if physical force or chemicals were used. LIke a big whopping scandal.

[seafan]

3. The St. Pete Times has this:

Link

One of the high court's two most conservative judges, Raoul G. Cantero III, 47, cited personal reasons for stepping down effective Sept. 6, just six years after joining the court.

Cantero has told friends that his family, including his wife, Ani, and three children, are homesick and want to return to Miami. He told the St. Petersburg Times that his 13-year-old daughter recently had a benign tumor removed.

"I wanted to take things step-by-step, and I was dealing with my daughter's surgery," said Cantero, who was born in Spain to Cuban parents and is a graduate of Harvard Law School. "If it were not for this family issue, we would not be moving."

I believe that these are not the sole reasons.


Interesting that he defied Jeb on Terri Schiavo's Law.

[Demeter]

4. It Might Even Be True

in which case, more power to him. But I doubt it.

[ThomWV]

5. I presume we'll see an indictment sometime next week

[Judi Lynn]

6. Interesting how much he resembles his mass-murdering client, Orlando Bosch!

Odd that they forgot to mention _Jeb's dad is the one who gave Orlando Bosch the administrative pardon.

Question for UTUSN: Do you imagine DU's Spanish-descended posters are going to agree with you that Fidel Castro is "oily?" You're the first person I've ever heard who has called the man "oily." I've never noticed this quality in him.



Still "oily" after all these years?

[struggle4progress]

7. The kids look abused

[bluesmail]

8. K&R yes it is very interesting

his sudden departure from SC, oh, what did it all prove in the end re: Teri Schaivo? The RW'ers went crazy over Teri, yet it was all a wasted performance.