Jack Thompson
Friday, Dec. 8, 2000

Kogan, who retired from the Florida Supremes in 1998 to return to life in Miami, appeared on Fox to explain further what is reported today in the New York Times, namely that Judge Sauls was stripped by the Florida Supreme Court of his position as Chief Judge of the Leon County circuit because of complaints that Sauls was "autocratic" in the discharge of his duties.

Believe it or not, the Times piece was remarkably evenhanded, and one gets the feeling reading it that Sauls possibly was not liked because of his conservative views and his no-nonsense management style. The Times left room for that conclusion. Kogan left no room for anything favorable to Sauls.

He stated as fact pejorative descriptions of Sauls, and he was very eager to explain how fair the Florida Supreme Court was toward Sauls.

Kogan was so "over the top" in his denigration of Sauls that his rant, in my opinion as someone who knows the Florida Code of Professional Responsibility, violated the Code and even the oath he took upon becoming a lawyer, which states: "I will maintain the respect due to courts of justice and judicial officers."

Kogan enjoys no special privilege as a former justice to defame a sitting judge, particularly one who finds himself in as highly charged a case as this one. Any lawyer with a jurist's fairness would not have gone on national TV to trash Judge Sauls.

Besides shooting himself in the foot in this regard, Kogan has, more importantly, now provided a window into the Florida Supreme Court for anyone who wants to claim that a ruling coming out of the high court adverse to Sauls is one stemming in part from animus toward Sauls, for reasons personal and/or ideological.

As to ideological animus, I note that the ACLU has announced that Kogan was a recipient of one of its awards.

While the nation waits for the Florida Supremes to affirm or reverse Judge Sauls' opinion, one of their former brethren has done his level best to deepen further the public's perception that Florida's Supreme Court is not impartial.

Don't blame me for the perception; blame Justice Kogan.

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