No well-intentioned reform could have been sabotaged more thoroughly than Gov. Reubin Askew’s historic effort to protect Florida’s courts from politics and ensure their independence.

Under his 1971 merit selection model, which became part of the state Constitution, the new Democratic governor gave up the traditional perquisite of draping robes on his friends.

Instead, judges would be appointed from lists recommended to him by nominating commissions. He designed them to be independent by limiting the governor to three persons on each nine-member panel. The Florida Bar appointed three members and those six then chose three non-lawyers.

“It was the most unselfish thing any governor ever did,” said Richard McFarlain, a prominent Republican lawyer on the Florida Bar staff.

The system worked well with rare exceptions until 2001. (Broward’s JNC was notorious for cronyism and favoritism in the 1980s and 1990s.)

Expanding the governor’s reach

With Republicans in full control in Tallahassee, the Legislature changed the law in the Jeb Bush era to allow governors to appoint all nine members of each commission. Critics warned that it would have far-reaching repercussions, and they were right.