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Judge Sauls adds dose of wit to Florida election dispute

With a sharp wit and quick one-liners, Judge Sauls is emerging as one of the more colorful figures in the Florida election dispute

From CNN Correspondent Kate Snow

TALLAHASSEE, Florida (CNN) -- On the day that Judge N. Sanders Sauls found out he would preside over the case of the disputed Florida ballots, he had been busy hearing from domestic violence victims in rural Wakulla County. Friends and colleagues say he never expected -- and probably never wanted -- to be at the center of a political storm.

Judge N. Sanders Sauls, known as "Sandy" to his friends, is a fixture in northern Florida. Appointed to the bench by Florida's Republican Gov. Bob Martinez in 1989, he splits his time between Leon County Circuit Court and circuit-level cases in Wakulla, 20 miles south of the capital.

A native of northern Florida and raised in nearby Monticello, Sauls grew up in the shadow of a courthouse. His father was court clerk in neighboring Jefferson County and his mother worked in the tax assessor's office there.

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Sauls is a Democrat with conservative leanings. He spent election night at a party for a local Democratic sheriff. But he has a reputation as a "fair-minded" judge who is not a partisan when wearing the robe.

In Leon County, Sauls has handled a partial load of civil cases for the past two years -- judges on the circuit rotate from civil to criminal cases every two years.

In Wakulla, on the other hand, he hears everything from divorce disputes to domestic violence, child support and felony criminal cases like aggravated battery or theft. A year ago, Sauls put two men on death row for a double-murder.

In the presidential case now before him, Sauls has earned an instant reputation for his sharp wit and one-liners. During Saturday's contest trial, witness Kimball Brace was demonstrating for an attorney how to punch a paper ballot on the sample machine he brought into the courtroom. "Did it work?'" the attorney asked. "Yes, I voted for number 5," Brace said, at which point Sauls joined in, " Now, you don't have to say who you voted for."

But lawyers familiar with the judge say he is not just playing to the cameras. They say the judge has always used humor to lighten the mood in his courtroom. Many also note that his "laid-back" demeanor can be deceiving.

Attorneys who have appeared before Sauls frequently say his easy manner can fool lawyers into thinking he's not paying close attention when he is. And they say he normally keeps firm control of his court.

"Nobody's going to run roughshod over Judge Sauls," says Tallahassee lawyer Stephen Dobson. "Judge Sauls has tried cases from first-degree murder cases, where he's instituted the death penalty, to huge civil trials involving millions and millions of dollars. And I can't imagine a lawyer in the country that's going to influence Judge Sauls one way or the other."

In private, attorneys say Sauls is not the most "creative" judge on bench. He is known for not being an activist, or a judge who will readily create new interpretations of the law. Instead, say attorneys who asked not to be named, Sauls goes by the book.

One attorney who has both won and lost cases before the judge was critical, saying Sauls often seizes on one small aspect of the law, even if it is not the central deciding issue in a case.

Dobson says he suspects the judge has spent the last several days preparing for Saturday's trial. "If I know Judge Sauls, he started educating himself," Dobson said. "He's been reading up on it on his own. Because when the lawyers talk, he wants to make sure that he knows exactly what they're saying and that they're right."

Two years ago, Sauls resigned from his post as chief of Florida's 2nd Judicial Circuit after being publicly criticized for trying to fire the court's administrator. At the time, the Florida Supreme Court had been poised to get involved in the matter.

Sauls has also endured personal tragedy in recent years. His teen-age daughter was recently killed in an auto accident.

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Florida State Courts
Florida Southern District Court
Electoral College
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Palm Beach County government

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