Scott seeks court records TODAY

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Rick Scott wants to know what two Florida Supreme Court justices were talking about after they heard a contentious case involving his power to appoint future members of the court.

Justices heard arguments last Wednesday about whether Scott or his successor has the authority to appoint replacements for three justices who must retire by the last day of his term. The League of Women Voters and Common Cause, two voters’ rights groups, sued after Scott declared he had the power to appoint the justices.

After the hearing, Justices Jorge Labarga and Barbara Pariente could be seen discussing a sheet of paper on The Florida Channel, the public television network that records state government meetings.

Scott’s general counsel, Daniel Nordby, requested the document they were talking about and the audio recording Monday.

The governor said he wanted to find out what was said before making any further decisions. He stopped short of saying he would ask the justices to recuse themselves from the case.

“We expect judges to be impartial, we expect them to simply do their job and we’ve done a record request to see what document they were talking about,” Scott said.

“It’s incumbent upon everybody to understand what was being discussed.”

The stakes in the case are huge. There is a current 4-3 liberal majority on the court that Scott could transform into a conservative majority.