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Ben Overton In Memoriam

UF Law adjunct and former Florida Supreme Court Justice Ben Overton remembered

Former Florida Supreme Court Justice, UF Law alum and Adjunct Professor Ben F. Overton died Saturday, Dec. 29, in Gainesville, Fla., of complications from heart surgery. He was 86 and was Florida’s 62nd justice since statehood.

“Justice Overton was one of the most influential members of the court after the sweeping reforms of the 1970s,” said Chief Justice Ricky Polston. “He will be remembered not only for his far-seeing opinions, but also for his efforts in the 1970s to make the state courts more accessible by allowing cameras into our courtrooms.”

In the mid-1970s, Overton was one of several newly appointed justices who elevated the reputation of the court after it earlier had become involved in scandal. He was the first justice chosen through a merit selection process created by Gov. Reubin Askew that soon was added to the Florida Constitution by vote of the people.

From his appointment on March 27, 1974, until his retirement on Jan. 4, 1999, Overton authored more than 1400 decisions and was a central figure in a vast series of reforms that made his court one of the most respected and accessible in the nation. He served as chief justice from 1976-1978 and chaired the Article V Review Commission in 1984. Following his retirement, Overton was an active adjunct professor of law at the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law.
“He is the profile of what you would expect a judge to be,” UF Law Dean Emeritus and Director of UF Law’s Center for Governmental Responsibility Jon Mills told The Gainesville Sun.

“He was smart, fair. He wrote some terrifically important opinions in education, privacy and a broad number of constitutional areas,” Mills said. “He was an independent thinker. When he was on the bench, he could look pretty fearful.”

A native of Green Bay, Wis., Overton became a double Gator, earning both his bachelor’s and law degrees from the University of Florida. He also earned an LL.M in jurisprudence from the University of Virginia in 1984. He was honored as a Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Florida in 2008.

Overton not only helped make Florida one of the first states to allow television coverage of court cases, but also was instrumental in making the state Supreme Court one of the first in the world to have a website. Overton later played a pivotal role in seeing that every Florida Supreme Court case was televised, webcast, and stored in an on-line archive.

Overton served nearly ten years on the Pinellas County circuit court and, for several years, as its chief judge. He was well known for his work in legal education and dispute resolution and was chairman of the Dispute Resolution Section of the American Bar Association.

“In addition to Justice Overton’s leadership in the judiciary, he was a tremendous supporter of the law school and its students,” said UF Law Dean Robert Jerry. “Beginning in 2001, he taught Florida constitutional law and a Florida Supreme Court seminar as an adjunct faculty member, and his interest in helping prepare our students for the legal profession had no limits. He also served as a member of the Law Center Association Board of Trustees and was a charter member of the Association’s Heritage of Leadership Committee, which selects distinguished alumni for posthumous recognition by the Levin College of Law.”

Predeceased by his wife Marilyn, Overton is survived by his children, Judge William H. Overton and wife, Dolores; Robert M. Overton; and Catherine L. Overton; two grandchildren, William E. and wife Alison; Brian H. and wife Jackie; and one great grandchild, Adelynn.

Gainesville Sun Article

Published: January 4th, 2013

Category: History

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The Florida Constitutional Law Endowment in memory of Justice Ben F. Overton was created by Judge Karen Miller in 2013. This fund supports lectures and presentations by Justices of the Florida Supreme Court at the Fredric G. Levin College of Law.

HISTORY

Justice Overton, who earned his B.S. in 1951 and his Juris Doctor in 1952 from the University of Florida, was the first merit appointment to the Florida Supreme Court. Throughout his career he was active in legal education and served as an Adjunct Professor at the Levin College of Law through December 2012, the month of his death. Although he resided at Oak Hammock at the University of Florida, a continuing care retirement community developed in cooperation with UF, he also considered the Florida Supreme Court “home.” Among the high points of his later years was hosting Justices of the Florida Supreme Court in Gainesville and taking his class to Tallahassee to hear oral arguments at the Florida Supreme Court.
Judge Miller, who earned her B.S. cum laude from New York University in 1974 and her Juris Doctor from New York Law School in 1977, served as Chief Administrative Law Judge of the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs, New York City’s business regulatory agency, before she retired to Oak Hammock at the University of Florida. Having accompanied Justice Overton on his excursions to Tallahassee and joined him in welcoming guests to Oak Hammock at the University of Florida, she created the endowment in memory of Justice Overton to ensure that the Levin College of Law continues to have the funding necessary to continue and enhance the interaction between its students and the Florida Supreme Court.

 

Judge Miller remembered the event that motivated the endowment.

 

Prior to a dinner at the home of Dean Robert Jerry and Lisa Jerry shortly after Justice Overton’s death, Justice Barbara Pariente and I were discussing a suitable memorial. Justice Pariente, who had been Justice Overton’s colleague on the Florida Supreme Court and who understood the importance to him of the interaction between his students and the Court, suggested the outline of what has become the Overton lectures. Dean Jerry, who has since retired, as has Dean Emeritus Jon Mills, who assumed responsibility for implementing the Overton lectures, were very supportive from the beginning. Since Dean Mills’ retirement, Professor Timothy McClendon, who assisted both Justice Overton and Dean Mills teaching Florida Constitutional Law and who co-authored the recent Florida Constitutional Law casebook, has continued the Overton lectures with the support of Interim Dean Merritt McAlister and CGR director, Professor Danaya Wright.

Justice Overton was a devoted jurist, educator, and ethical leader of the Florida legal profession. The Overton Lecture Series brings Florida Supreme Court Justices to the University of Florida, Levin College of Law, and serves to introduce students to the inner workings of the Court. CGR and the students of the College of Law extend our deepest gratitude to Judge Karen Miller for making the Overton Lectures possible in perpetuity.

You can watch an interview for the Florida Historical Society by Mary Adkins, professor emeritus of the UF Levin College of Law, with Justice Overton here.

Justice Overton was also interviewed for the Samuel Proctor Oral History Project and a transcript of his interview is available at the Smathers Library, and here.
Justice Overton sat on the Constitution Revision Commission of 1977-78 that proposed a right to privacy in the Florida Constitution. Although it failed as part of the Constitution Revision Commission recommendations, it passed in 1980 when proposed by the legislature. The bill was co-sponsored by our very own Jon Mills. The privacy provision prevailed by greater than 60%. Justice Overton then wrote a concurrence in a critical reproductive rights case in 1989 affirming that the privacy provision of the Florida Constitution included the right to obtain an abortion. That decision was overruled in Planned Parenthood of SW and Central Florida v. Florida. You can read about the role of Justice Overton, Jon Mills – director emeritus of CGR, and the history of the 1989 case here.