TALLAHASSEE – The Florida judge who may decide the next president was once removed as chief judge of his judicial circuit.
Judge N. Sanders Sauls, a Democrat, was embroiled in controversy in 1998, when he tried to oust a popular court administrator and replace him with a woman who did not have the advertised qualifications, but was friends with the daughter of a friend.
Sauls, who was in charge of the trial courts in Tallahassee and five surrounding rural counties, was removed by the chief justice of Florida’s Supreme Court even though he announced he would resign.
He remained on the bench, however, serving part-time in two counties.
Supportive lawyers and court personnel describe him as a fully in control of his courtroom, and say he is up to the worldwide scrutiny that presiding over the outcome of a presidential race brings.
But critics have called him arrogant.
The judge, who ranked first in his high school and was voted most likely to succeed, came under fire several years ago for releasing a suspected tax evader to the custody of a lawyer who was the judge’s neighbor. The order was given during a late-night phone call, angering the state attorney.
Sauls has never been sanctioned as a judge or a lawyer, according to the Florida Bar Association. But he once received a startling low 64 percent approval rating in a bar-association poll.
Sauls started his career as an assistant state attorney before moving over to a politically connected Tallahassee law firm in the early 1970s.
The move paid off in 1978 – he received a federal bankruptcy judgeship, a post he held for eight years.
After a three-year stint in private practice, Sauls switched his long-time Democratic affiliation to Republican and fulfilled his lifelong dream with an appointment in 1989 to the circuit court by GOP Governor Bob Martinez.
He has since switched back to being a Democrat, although judges in Florida do not run under a party affiliation.
While he now presides mainly over civil cases, Tallahassee lawyer Sidney Matthew said Sauls’ time presiding over four or five death-penalty trials makes him ready for the spotlight.
“If you want to know what someone is made of, watch if they put someone to death,” Matthew said. “Then you’ll see someone you know can follow the law and someone who takes his oath seriously.”
Sauls, 59, was chosen randomly by computer for his latest high-profile assignment.
During yesterday’s opening hearing, he commanded control of the courtroom while displaying a folksy demeanor.
Married with three grown children, Sauls lost a daughter to a car accident. He relaxes by hunting and fishing and also likes to play golf.
“I always wanted to be a circuit court judge,” Sauls once said. “I was full of myself, you might say.”