Advocates are urging Governor Rick Scott to consider Florida’s growing Hispanic and African American population as he prepares to appoint a new Supreme Court justice.
In a letter sent to Scott on Wednesday, the Florida Access to Justice Project notes that Florida is 22 percent Hispanic and 16 percent African American, but only 9 percent of judges are Hispanic and fewer than 7 percent are African American.
The group is also asking Scott to appoint more minorities and lesbian, gay and transgender candidates to judicial nominating commissions.
Scott will soon have to appoint a replacement for retiring state Supreme Court Justice James Perry.
The Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission is expected to forward a list of six candidates by the end of the month. So far, only the chief judge of the Fifth District Court of Appeal, has applied.
