PRESS RELEASE: EDGERTON CRITICIZES FLORIDA CRT MONUMENT JUDGE
PRESS RELEASE
FLORIDA JUDGE CRITICIZED FOR INJECTING CRT INTO MONUMENT LAWSUIT
Asheville, NC – HK Edgerton announces today that he has sent an official complaint to the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission about State Appellate Court Judge Scott D. Makar.
Edgerton filed the complaint seeking the removal of Judge Makar from the bench.
Judge Maker, while serving on the First District Court of Appeals, wrote the Decision in the Madison County Florida Cenotaph Case that sided with the City of Madison, Florida over numerous individual plaintiffs as well as Save Southern Heritage Florida, and the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
“This complaint is long overdue after what this so-called Judge did in the Madison Cenotaph case” Edgerton said.
Judge Makar was born in New York, but moved to Manatee with his family when he was in school. Makar held various legal positions until he was appointed to the First District Court of Appeals in 2012 by Florida Governor Rick Scott. After the Madison decision, he was reassigned to the Fifth District Court of Appeals and his term ends in 2025.
“Makar is the epitome of the Yankee transplant who comes down to the South and is part of the continuing effort to reconstruct the South in the Yankee mindset and I for one have had enough of this, especially in the judiciary, and I decided to do something about it” Edgerton added.
Edgerton’s complaint cites three Canons of the Florida Supreme Court Code of Judicial Conduct which Edgerton asserts Makar violated, specifically:
Canon 1 - Undermining the integrity of the judiciary as required in Canon;
Canon 7(3)(a) – [A Judge] shall not be swayed by partisan interests, public clamor or fear of criticism; and
Canon 2B - Which accuses Judge Makar of the appearance of allowing family, social, political or other relationships to influence their judgment.
Edgerton accuses Makar of being influenced by the attack on the legal system in the wake of the George Floyd death and of not knowing the difference between Florida’s “Big Bend” and the “Panhandle”.
But potentially more dangerous for Judge Maker was his unsolicited injection of ‘sua sponte’ Critical Race Theory into the decision. The Complaint alleges that:
“The Judge [Makar] continued politicizing the case by injecting sua sponte claiming that “others see Confederate monuments…as relics of racial hatred and an attempt to perpetuate the subjugation of African Americans.” Which people? People in the news? No evidence or arguments included this information, it was much like the rhetoric used by Elizabeth Warren to justify the tearing down of the Reconciliation Cenotaph at Arlington National Cemetery, right out of the Southern Poverty Law Center's playbook, and other critical race theory adherents.”
Edgerton reports that his complaint was addressed to the Commission’s Chair, Gregory W. Coleman, Esq. and is expected to be received by him on Tuesday, May 28th, the day after Memorial Day.
“I can’t think of a better time to criticize a member of the Woke Cult for allowing the desecration of a Cenotaph than at Memorial Day and I am proud as a peacock to be the one to do it” Edgerton said.
As of the issuance of this statement, despite the Decision, the Madison Cenotaph is still in place.
Makar has been published and also served in various teaching roles in Florida over the years.
“Florida Governor Ron Desantis has opposed CRT and “woke idealogy” in higher education, but this Judge seems to be the one teaching it” Edgerton concluded.
About HK Edgerton
HK Edgerton is a past President of the NAACP in his home town of Asheville, NC and is a US Army Veteran. He has advocated for the preservation of the Madison County memorial and worked for legislation to protect all Veterans Memorials in Florida.