 |
 "Recount," the Movie, Looks
at Election 2000
An HBO crew of approximately 90 members descended on the Florida Supreme Court November 3-4, as part of the filming of "Recount" that took place in Tallahassee for approximately one week. The film revisits the Bush v. Gore presidential election 2000 turmoil that embroiled the Court and Tallahassee proper for several weeks after the polls closed that November. Ultimately, 35 days after the national election, the U.S. Supreme Court announced Bush the winner of the election by reversing the decision of the Florida Supreme Court that had ordered a recount of the state's undercounted votes. The film is scheduled for release in the spring of 2008.
The movie is being directed by Jay Roach, scripted by Danny Strong and stars Kevin Spacey, John Hurt, Denis Leary, Bob Balaban and Ed Begley Jr. The film will attempt to show what happened behind the scenes from Election Day though the U.S. Supreme Court decision that ended Vice President Al Gore's challenge and handed Bush the presidency.
 The two-day filming at the Court involved, not only the vast HBO film crew, but several hundred extras who filled the streets in crowd scenes outside the court, as well as a smaller number in the courtroom who listened to the oral arguments surrounding the controversy of recounting votes due to the closeness of the initial count.
A long-time court employee, who worked at the Court during the election (and who also served as an extra in the recent courtroom scene) said the filming brought back very clear memories. "It certainly brought it all back to me," she said. "But I doubt the filming can quite recapture the true drama, or certainly the intensity, of the time. History was being made every day the vote was in question ‑ I mean, there was a lot of tension in the air." |
 Web Administrators Discuss Accessibility
at National Conference
Representatives from both the Supreme Court and the Office of the State Courts Administrator (OSCA) gave two accessibility presentations at the National Court Technology Conference (CTC10) held in Tampa, October 2-4. Craig Waters, Tricia Knox and Phillip Pollock presented Web Disability Access: Best Practices in Preventing a Disability Lawsuit over your Courts Website. (See the CTC10 Educational Session site for this, and all, sessions. Also, read the related presenters' paper) Waters discussed the legal ramifications behind making electronic court documents and court web sites compliant with state law, while Knox and Pollock addressed more technological, how-to aspects of compliance. Approximately 250 conference  attendees from throughout the country heard the presentations.
Waters told the audience, " Like many other states, Florida has modeled its web accessibility law after Section 508, which mandates that electronic communications and government websites be accessible. If accessibility concerns are not met, lawsuits could result."
President Clinton signed into law the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998, which strengthened Section 508 language from previous 1973 federal legislation. The Florida Statute regarding Web-Based Intranet and Internet Information and Application Standards (F.S. 282.601 – 282.606), uses Section 508 by saying that all electronic communications and web sites are required to be made accessible to individuals with disabilities. Obviously, this impacts both the floridasupremecourt.org and flcourts.org web sites. This law took effect in Florida beginning July 1, 2006.
When Knox gave reasons for making documents and web sites compliant, she cited both the Florida Statute and the fact that, just as in situations where physical barriers like curb cuts exist, everyone benefits from electronic accessibility. She said, "Things we do to make documents and sites accessible have benefit to everyone. In addition, and more importantly, why would we, as web administrators, purposefully ignore a segment of the population, based on an individual's disability? We wouldn't. Accessibility is simply the right thing to do."
Pollock further described ways to facilitate accessibility. When questioned about making a particularly complex file accessible, he said, "Think in terms of simplification. Many times documents are created in programs that are overly complex, when the complexity isn't required. Often, a simple word-processing file can be made very attractive and very accessible all at the same time."
After the presentation, Frederick Bowes, III, representing the American Foundation for the Blind, told the three presenters that the Supreme Court and OSCA appear to be leaders in the country in their efforts in the area of accessibility. |
Domestic Violence Strategic Planning 
Group Meets at the Court
 The Domestic Violence Strategic Planning Group is meeting at the Florida Supreme Court throughout the day on Tuesday, September 18. Key participants in Florida who are knowledgeable of domestic violence issues are attempting to develop a long-range strategy plan that will improve the effectiveness of Florida's court's in handling domestic violence cases.
Participants in the planning group will divide into three primary work groups during the day's activities. The three topics considered in each group are: Creating more effective injunction orders (inconsistencies, firearms provisions, and service of orders); Enforcing injunctions, compliance issues; and Addressing the needs of involved parties (participant assistance,  conflicts between and protection of participants, and injunction reviews).
Rose Patterson, Chief of Court Improvement at the Office of the State Courts Administrator welcomed participants and thanked them for their willingness to participate in the day-long event. She said, "We continue to see domestic violence issues unfold in the news throughout the year in Florida, and these heart-breaking stories make us realize the importance of our meeting today--our work needs to continue." |
|
Table contains story regarding the Court's Pandemic Flu efforts
|
|
Each year, Boys’ and Girls’ State representatives come to the Florida Supreme Court to learn more about the third branch of government in the State of Florida. Those who participate, representative of a larger group of young men and women, attend activities in state government that extend throughout the week. This year, the girls came to the court on June 19-20, while the boys followed a week later, on June 28-29.
The representatives always come well-prepared, and possess a strong understanding of the appellate court procedures. As a result, both the boys and girls attempt to mimic the Oral Argument process that the “real” Florida Supreme Court justices are involved in throughout the year.
Below, the interest, intensity, and sincerity shows as representatives of each group participate in the Mock Oral Argument process. |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
