Rod Smith blasts GOP move to divide Supreme Court

"This is a horrible piece of legislation," Smith added, saying he was also upset about the fact that the Cannon bill would set a fixed amount of funding for the courts. As an aside he also said he didn't believe that Florida voters would pass the measure (It would have to go before the voters next year) by the 60 percent required.

Smith said he wasn't a lobbyist and wasn't telling the 11 Senators at the meeting how they should vote per se, but on this, as well as an elections "reform" bill, the Florida Democratic Party Chair made it clear how he felt.

He was actually invited to the meeting by Democratic Senate Minority Leader Nan Rich to give an update to the body on the status of Amendments 5 & 6. He said he believed resolution of those proposals will ultimately end up in court. The amendments have been subject to a lawsuit by Democrat Corrine Brown and Republican Mario Diaz-Balart. Smith said, "We feel we're on strong grounds" on successfully defending the measures in that case.