Date:  11:45 AM, March 21, 2012

Location:  Pensacola Cultural Center, Pensacola, Florida 

Event:  Luncheon

Partners:   Escambia Santa Rosa Bar Association 

The League of Women Voters Pensacola Bay Area, Florida, held a luncheon meeting on "What Citizens Should Know About the Selection, Election, and Retention of Florida Judges" on March 21, 2012, from 12-1 PM at the Pensacola Cultural Center in Pensacola, Florida.  The speaker was Scott Hawkins, President of the Florida Bar Association, who covered the selection, election, and retention of state judges.  In Florida, appellate judges are chosen through a merit selection and retention process that involves twenty-six nominating commissions, gubernatorial appointment, and ultimately retention elections every six years, but trial judges are chosen in nonpartisan elections, making for a complex judicial selection landscape.