Florida Supreme Court Historical Society

A Supreme Evening Was a Supreme Success

The University Center Club was the perfect venue for the Florida Supreme Court Historical Society’s ‘must attend judicial social Hiliari Bass, ABA president event of the year,’ A Supreme Evening. This year’s event was held on January 25, 2018, in the Club’s reception area overlooking Florida State University’s Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee. Historical Society President, Ed Guedes, started the evening by cordially welcoming the more than 350 dinner guests, which included Chief Justice Labarga and Justices Pariente, Canady, and Lawson of the Supreme Court of Florida, as well as former Justices Stephen H. Grimes, Major B. Harding and Harry Lee Anstead. Several former Presidents of The Florida Bar and the American Bar Association, including Sandy D’Alemberte and Martha Barnett, also attended.

The witty Henry Coxe, former President of the Historical Society and The Florida Bar, emceed the evening and, as always, warmly recognized Justices of the Court, new and old, as well as the Chair of Florida Constitution Revision Commission,

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The Supreme Court of Florida - A Journey Toward Justice, 1972 -1987 describing the court during its most tumultuous years. Amid the upheaval of the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, and Watergate, the story begins with reform in the entire Florida court system. It includes the court’s first black justice, Joseph Hatchett; Governor Reubin Askew’s new system for merit selection of justices; and revision of Article V, the section of the state constitution dealing with the judiciary.

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Justice Alan C. Lawson was sworn in as the 86th Justice

Justice Alan C. Lawson was sworn in as the 86th Justice of the Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday, April 5, 2017.

The investiture ceremony in the Florida Supreme Court Building began with a Judicial Procession of 50 plus robed judges from throughout Florida. This was a first for a court that was famously known for not wearing any kind of robes for more than a century,

Message from the Society's President,
Edward G. Guedes

“The old gray mare, she ain’t what she used to be….” Those opening lyrics from the old American folk song, while perhaps unflattering if taken literally, certainly apply to the Florida Supreme Court Historical Society’s transformation during these past two to three years. Beginning under the leadership of Sylvia Walbolt, who led the effort to analyze the needs of the Society as an ongoing, viable entity and to develop a five-year transition plan, and continuing through the leadership of my predecessor, Kelly O’Keefe, who galvanized the will of our trustees and solidified the committee structure that would implement the plan, the transition is now well under way.

Justices' Portraits Debuted

The Supreme Court portrait gallery is housed in the Courtroom, adjoining hallway and the Lawyers' Lounge. At the Annual Dinner, the FSCHS commissioned portraits of Chief Justice Jorge Labarga, Justice Charles T. Canady, Justice Ricky Polston, and Justice James E.C. Perry were revealed.

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