Racial Comments Cause Chief Circuit Judge's Ouster

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - After a storm of protest from black activists around the nation, the Florida Supreme Court yesterday removed Judge John Santora as chief circuit judge in Jacksonville for making racial slurs.

Santora's remarks suggested some blacks were lawless and inferior workers, and he lamented interracial dating: "The blacks are playing with those white girls, with the white girls' consent."

In a 6-0 vote, the high court said Santora's comments had eroded public confidence in his ability to administrate color-blind justice. The court did not have power to remove Santora, 69, from the bench without the Judicial Qualification Commission first recommending it. Commission Director Brooke Kennerly would not comment whether the board was investigating Santora.

Santora returns to his district as one of 41 circuit judges.

In a Dec. 22 interview with The Florida Times Union of Jacksonville, the judge blamed school violence on integration, opposed interracial marriage and complained that most welfare recipients are black.

And he said the district had enough black judges but needed more Jewish judges to work over the Christmas holidays. He later said his comments about Jewish judges were in jest.

Santora's comments, said the high court, "have been read by a significant portion of the community as . . . embracing and endorsing discriminatory stereotypes."

Santora defended his comments yesterday as personal views that did not carry over to his duties as judge.

The high court, a coalition of Jacksonville lawyers and community leaders and national black-community spokesmen such as the Rev. Jesse Jackson disagreed. Jackson flew to Jacksonville twice for rallies to pressure the judge to step down.

Santora's defense filed with the high court pointed out that early in his three-decade career as a judge he initiated efforts to desegregate Jacksonville's Municipal Court. That, he said, won strong support from black voters.

"Removing Judge Santora as chief judge will be widely perceived in Duval County as pandering to protesters," his objection said.

Marches both in favor of and against the judge have taken place in Jacksonville. Polls showed that the majority of local residents did not want him to resign.