Third world countries and the rule of law.

• Author: Coxe, Henry M., III
• Position: Florida - President's page

He called Miami a "Third World country." Sitting in the comfort of The Breakers in Palm Beach, U. S. Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-Colorado) said, "You just pick it up [Miami] and take it and move it someplace. You would never know you're in the United States of America."

Recently, I had the privilege of welcoming the presidents of our nation's bar associations to Miami. It was an opportunity to explain that if being multicultural in Florida is to be condemned, then we affirmatively elect to be condemned. If diversity is wrong, then we choose to be

wrong.

Just weeks earlier in Miami, the following organizations held a joint meeting: Caribbean Bar Association, Gwen S. Cherry Black Women Lawyers Association, Broward County Hispanic Bar Association, Florida Association for Women Lawyers, Wilkie D. Ferguson Bar Association, Cuban-American Bar Association, Haitian Lawyers Association, and T.J. Reddick Bar Association. If all of those organizations choose to gather together, my sincere apologies to Congressman Tancredo, but this is the United States of America.

Beyond personally touting the numerous cultures within Florida, the Miami meeting was an opportunity to tell our guests that they were in a state where the rule of law has been showcased to the world. This issue of the Bar Journal addresses appellate practice and Florida's history of trial--especially appellate courts--which constantly embrace the rule of law and have been the envy of the world.

In northwest Florida in Bay County of the 14th Circuit, the issues surrounding Clarence Gideon breathed life into the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution because of the appellate courts. In southwest Florida in Pinellas County of the Sixth Circuit, in addressing all the circumstances surrounding Terry Schiavo, our appellate courts exercised their final decisions invoking the rule of law. In southeast Florida in...