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Harding to retire early from Supreme Court
By JULIE HAUSERMAN, Times Staff Writer
That will give Gov. Jeb Bush his first chance to solely appoint a new justice. Five of the seven justices now sitting on the state Supreme Court were appointed by the late Gov. Lawton Chiles, and a sixth was appointed by fellow Democrat Bob Graham. The seventh -- Peggy Quince -- was appointed jointly by Bush and Chiles. Harding, 66, says he picked Aug. 31 as his retirement date because "it was just the right time for me and my family." Chiles appointed Harding to the high court in 1991. Including his service on lower courts, Harding has served on the bench for 34 years. "I don't have any plans to do anything for a while," Harding said. "I started working when I was 12 years old, carrying a newspaper. I've worked all my life and it would be fun to do something else." Harding is a registered independent. In general, he was a moderate voice on the court -- conservative on some issues and more liberal on others, said two former Supreme Court justices, Wade Hopping and Gerald Kogan. He was considered a supporter of the death penalty, for example. "He was somebody who always tried to find a compromise," Kogan said in a telephone interview Wednesday. During his time as a Supreme Court justice, the high court considered many controversial issues, including abortion, the death penalty, and assisted suicide. But none drew a bigger spotlight than the 2000 presidential election. When the Florida Supreme Court ordered a recount in that case, Harding was among the dissenters on a 4-3 vote. Harding wrote then: "Even if such a recount were possible, speed would come at the expense of accuracy and it would be difficult to put any faith or credibility in a vote total achieved under such chaotic conditions." Barry Richard, a lawyer who represented George W. Bush in the presidential contest, called Harding "a centrist" and a "very fine, intellectually endowed judge." "I think he's everything a judge should be and I'm going to miss him," Richard said. Howard Coker, a personal injury attorney in Jacksonville who is the incoming president of the Florida Academy of Trial Lawyers, has known Harding for 30 years. He said the justice's biggest contribution was his even-handedness. "I think everybody who practiced before him felt they got a fair shake," Coker said. Harding served as Florida's chief justice from 1998 through July 2000, a two-year job that is rotated among the justices. When he was chief justice, the court honored civil rights leader Virgil Hawkins, who was denied admission to the University of Florida law school in the 1950s because he was black. Harding said he plans to retire in Tallahassee with his wife of 43 years, Jane. He also says he will spend time with his eight grandchildren -- and a ninth on the way. Gov. Jeb Bush will appoint Harding's successor from a list of candidates submitted by a nine-member judicial nominating commission. The next Supreme Court justice set to retire is Leander Shaw, 71, who was appointed by then-Gov. Graham. Shaw must retire in early 2003 because of his age. The Florida Constitution has a mandatory retirement for Supreme Court justices at age 70, although some may stay on the bench later than that if their birthday falls in the second half of their six-year term. -- Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
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From the Times state desk
From the state wire
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