Christine Jordan Sexton
First District Court of Appeal Judge Nikki Ann Clark is retiring effective June 1.
In an interview with Florida Politics, Clark said she has been a judge 22 years and before that worked as an attorney for 17 years. “That’s enough,” said Clark, 63. “It’s time to turn that page and start that new chapter.”
Clark sent her retirement letter to Gov. Rick Scott on Monday.
Scott will appoint a judge to replace Clark. That appointee will have to be retained by voters in a merit retention race.
Then-Gov. Charlie Crist appointed her to the 1st DCA in 2009. Prior to that, Clark was a Leon County Circuit Court judge for 16 years, originally appointed by then-Gov. Lawton Chiles, a Democrat. There, she heard a number of high-profile cases, including one involving 15,000 Republican absentee ballots in Seminole County during the 2000 General Election and recount efforts.
Her decision to allow the absentee ballots to be considered resulted in a barrage of hate mail and love mail. Reflecting, she laughed and said that she even got a letter of apology from someone who had previously sent her hate mail.
‘It wasn’t just a good time, but an incredible time, even on those days that it’s been extremely difficult,” she said.
After her appointment to the 1st DCA, Clark was retained by voters in the 2010 election with 58 percent of the vote. She had more votes in favor of retention than any other 1st DCA judge on the ballot that year. Overall, the 1st DCA judges had the lowest retention scores of any appellate judges on the ballot that year statewide, fueled by voter anger sparked by the 1st DCA’s new courthouse dubbed “Taj Mahal.”
There are five district appellate courts in Florida. The courts hear matters that are not directly appealable to the Supreme Court as well as final state agency actions. The 1st DCA in Tallahassee hears many workers compensation cases.
Florida law requires Florida Supreme Court justices and appeals court judges after their first year on the bench to be affirmed in “merit retention” elections. Thereafter, the judges appear on the ballot in nonpartisan elections every six years so voters can determine whether the judges or justices should remain on their courts for another six-year term.
