The question
There’s a land use case between a developer and a city in Florida, wherein the developer previously donated to the campaigns of two separate judges of the circuit court (in 2020 and again in 2022) before his case went to that court (to a different judge) in 2024. It’s currently in the appeals process. A political scientist I spoke with said he believes the appellate court should void the circuit court’s decision for conflict of interest and potential bias and should refer the case to another circuit court out of the region; do you think this is an accurate and fair assessment?