Justice Bell: The 191-Mile Journey from Pensacola to Tallahassee

01/14/20 • 25 min

Justice Kenneth Bell was the 81st Justice (2003-2008) of the Florida Supreme Court. At the time of his appointment, he was the first justice from Pensacola in a century and the first from west of Tallahassee since 1917. Justice Bell is a seventh-generation Pensacolian whose paternal ancestors immigrated to the Pensacola area around 1819, when Florida still was a Spanish colony. Listen as he discusses why he's proud of his Northwest Florida roots.

Transcript (pdf)

Transcript (pdf)

Previous Episode

Justice Barkett: First Woman to Serve

In this Beyond the Bench episode, Justice Barkett describes her 1985 appointment to the Florida Supreme Court by then-Governor Bob Graham, the justices she met during her first visit to 500 S. Duval Street, and the remodeling issue her appointment created. She also discusses her life today as a judge on an international treaty court, the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal based in The Hague.

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Next Episode

Gilbert King: Changing the Narrative

Pulitzer-prize winning author, Gilbert King, stopped by the Supreme Court to discuss his two books based on true Florida legal cases: Devil in the Grove and Beneath a Ruthless Sun. Mr. King discusses Florida's history of racial justice -- sometimes racial injustice -- and the role the courts played during the time his books take place starting in the 1940s. Find out more about Florida's legal history, the role the Florida Supreme Court played, and why it sometimes is important to change the narrative of our own past.

Transcript (pdf)