Courtroom For Late Public Defender?

 

BY BUDDY NEVINS

 

 

There will be no Broward courtroom named for Chief Judge Jack Tuter in the near future.

And there will be no courtroom named for the late Public Defender Al Schreiber. 

 

 

Al Schreiber

 

At least for now.

Here is the courthouse mini-controversy:

A naming ceremony was recently proposed to honor Tuter. The problem is that a county rule forbids naming anything after a living person.

Tuter is very much alive. 

The prohibition against naming facilities after someone living is a good idea.  Several years ago commissioners floated the idea of naming a county park after a colleague. Then this colleague was indicted and ended up in prison for accepting favors from a developer.

So commissioners today are reluctant to change the county naming rule.

The Tuter honor was shuffled off to that limbo where politicians shove ideas they prefer to avoid.

The voluble lawyer Bill Gelin, who writes the JAAblog courthouse blog, is stepping up with a new idea. He proposes naming the Courthouse’s Ceremonial Courtroom, where special events take place on occasion, after Schreiber.

The lawyer/blogger called Schreiber a “towering presence.” He said his influence continues long after his 2004 retirement though lawyers he mentored and policies he pioneered.

Since Schreiber died earlier this month, naming the courtroom after him wouldn’t require changing county policy against naming a facility after someone living, Gelin said. 

Not so fast, Broward County Mayor Steve Geller says.  

Naming the courtroom for Schreiber at this time could be interpreted as an insult to Chief Judge Tuter, whose honor was stalled, according to Geller. 

“We don’t want to get into a naming war,” the mayor says. 

So the naming issue seems dead for now.

No Tuter courtroom. No Schreiber courtroom. Just a courtroom. 

 

Closed.



4 Responses to “Courtroom For Late Public Defender?”

  1. GOPapa says:
    July 15th, 2021 at 2:52 pm

    Naming a courtroom after Schreiber is as wrong as naming it after another political hack Mitch Ceasar

  2. Las Olas lawyer says:
    July 15th, 2021 at 2:54 pm

    Jack Tuter is an honorable man who shouldn’t be being dragged in the mud. He deserves the award.

  3. Employee says:
    July 16th, 2021 at 7:03 am

    Name it after the lower level workers who make all of them shine

  4. Quit naming things after people says:
    July 16th, 2021 at 6:54 pm

    We’re going to name a courtroom after the guy that suggested his asst. PD should do a lap dance for a campaign contribution? Makes sense to me.