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Voters to judge appeals judge on Election DayBy JIM ROSS © St. Petersburg Times, published October 27, 2000 Emerson Thompson, a judge on the 5th District Court of Appeal, has no opponent this political season. But his name will be on the Nov. 7 ballot all the same. Voters in Citrus, Hernando and several other counties will decide whether Thompson, 52, should return to the bench for another six-year term. Appellate judges and judges on the Florida Supreme Court are part of the merit retention system. The governor appoints the judges and the voters are asked every six years whether they want to keep the judges in office. If the answer is "no," then the governor must appoint someone else. The 5th District Court of Appeal considers appeals from the circuit courts in Citrus, Hernando, Brevard, Flagler, Lake, Marion, Orange, Osceola, Putnam, Seminole, St. Johns, Sumter and Volusia counties. Thompson has served on the court since 1993, when Gov. Lawton Chiles appointed him to finish an unexpired term. Of the people who voted in 1994, when Thompson first stood for merit retention, 66 percent supported him. In Citrus County, 65 percent of voters recommended six more years for the judge. Earlier this year, the Florida Bar mailed secret ballots to lawyers who reside and practice law in Florida. Participants were asked to indicate whether incumbent judges on the appellate courts and state Supreme Court should be retained. Only lawyers who said they had limited knowledge, at least, of the judges were included in poll results. Some 89 percent of the respondents recommended retaining Thompson, the Bar reported. Three of the court's 10 judges typically review each case, with one judge writing the majority opinion. Among the cases Thompson has reviewed during the past six years are one in which he rebuked Circuit Judge Michael Blackstone for asking witnesses too many questions during trials. Thompson also upheld a warrant that law officers obtained to search a drug suspect's home, overturned a man's perjury conviction and cleared a grand theft conviction off a woman's record. Thompson serves on the Florida Bar Foundation's board of directors, which awards grants and scholarships to groups such as legal aid societies and programs designed to help immigrants or disabled people. He also serves on the Judicial Ethics and Advisory Committee, which advises judges who have questions about what the judicial conduct code allows them to do. Thompson received a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Florida in 1970 and a law degree from Florida State University in 1973. Before his appointment to the appellate court, Thompson served 13 years as a circuit judge in Orange and Osceola counties and four years as a county judge in Orlando.
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