OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Popular Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis will get another pick for the state Supreme Court after a longtime justice announced he will be retiring. DeSantis, who many believe will be running for president in 2024, will get to place another justice on the state’s highest court after Justice Ricky Polston announced his resignation on Monday.
The timing of the resignation is also key as Polston will step down at the end of this month, meaning he will leave the bench before the court is expected to decide the fate of a case involving a 15-week ban on abortion that is being challenged in the state.
“The highly-anticipated case could give the high court a chance to overturn a more than 30-year-old ruling that determined abortion restrictions were a violation of the state’s right to privacy embedded in the state constitution,” Politico reported.
“It has been my great honor to serve the people of Florida in the judiciary for over 22 years, the first 8 years as judge of the First District Court of Appeal and then 14 years as justice of the Court,” Polston wrote. “I am truly grateful for the opportunity to work with such great jurists, lawyers, and all those involved with the judiciary.”
Polston, who is 67, could have served at least eight more years on the bench before facing retirement, which is mandated by the state constitution for justices once they reach 75.
“Ricky Polston is a good man, and he has been a treasured colleague, friend, and role model to all of us on the Court,” Chief Justice Carlos Muñiz said in a released statement. “We are grateful for Justice Polston’s decades of exemplary service to the people of our state.”
DeSantis, for his part, has been busy this week.
DeSantis weighed in Monday on the looming indictment and potential arrest of former President Donald Trump.
“So I’ve seen rumors swirl. I have not seen any facts yet, so I don’t know what’s gonna happen. But I do know this, the Manhattan District Attorney is a Soros-funded prosecutor. And so he, like other Soros-funded prosecutors, they weaponize their office to impose a political agenda on society at the expense of the rule of law and public safety,” DeSantis said at a press conference.
“He has downgraded over 50% of the felonies to misdemeanors,” DeSantis continued. “He says he doesn’t want to even have jail time for the vast, vast majority of crimes. And what we’ve seen in Manhattan is we’ve seen the crime rate go up and we’ve seen citizens become less safe.”
“And so you’re talking about this situation with, and look, I don’t know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair,” he added. “I just, I can’t speak to that, but what I can speak to is that if you have a prosecutor who is ignoring crimes happening every single day in his jurisdiction, and he chooses to go back many, many years ago to try to use something about porn star ‘hush money’ payments, you know, that’s an example of pursuing a political agenda and weaponizing the office.’
“And I think that that’s fundamentally wrong,” he remarked. “I also think it’s important to point out when you’re talking about these Soros-funded prosecutors, yes, they may do a high profile politicized prosecution and that’s bad. But the real victims are ordinary New Yorkers, ordinary Americans, and all these different jurisdictions that they get victimized every day because of the reckless political agenda that these Soros DAs bring to their job. They ignore crime and they empower criminals. And that hurts people, hurts a lot of people every single day.”
“The Soros district attorneys are a menace to society, and I’m just glad that I’m the only governor in the country that’s actually removed one from office during my tenure,” he noted.
“We won’t be involved in this,” he added. “I have no interest in getting involved in some type of manufactured circus by some Soros DA… He’s trying to do a political spectacle. He’s trying to virtue signal for his base. I’ve got real issues I got to deal with here in FL.”
WATCH:
BREAKING: @GovRonDeSantis responds to the reports of a possible Trump indictment:
"We are not involved in this and won't be involved in this. I have no interested in getting involved in some type of manufactured circus by some Soros DA. He's trying to do a political spectacle.… https://t.co/3zQRmz72lH pic.twitter.com/lCeCA37vnf
— Jenna Ellis 🇺🇸 (@JennaEllisEsq) March 20, 2023
News broke on Friday that New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg is close to indicting Trump over hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 campaign, allegedly to keep her quiet about an affair the two of them had in 2006.
A lawyer for Donald Trump described the most likely scenario at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate should he be indicted this week by a Manhattan grand jury.
The attorney stated that Trump would not resist and would surrender to authorities in the event of an indictment in Bragg’s investigation into the alleged hush-money agreement.
“There won’t be a standoff at Mar-a-Lago with Secret Service and the Manhattan DA’s office,” Joe Tacopina said. He suggested that Trump, whom he characterized as a survivor, would utilize any charges brought against him to his political advantage in the long run.
“Most people would collapse under the weight of this,” he said. “He seems to turn everything into a positive and everything into a boost for his campaign, so I’m sure this will just join that long list of things that people think no one could overcome, but he will.”
