I don't know if I can offer any insight that you can't find in the paper or if anyone is interested in my POV, but I have been asked by Doug Dodge to post what I can.

Keep in mind that my job here is to bring our Case Management System into the judge's chambers so that we can track documents as they move through their hands. The way this is currently being done makes the punch card ballots look like something from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

This morning there are even more news vans than before some with names that I don't even recognize. Some with satellite dishes on trailers. It's interesting what they can put a satellite dish on these days.

The 11th Circuit, US Court of Appeals is made up of 12 judges and has jurisdiction over Ga, Fl & Al. This circuit has been in the news recently in the Elian Gonzalez case. You can probably find a profile of them on 'Net somewhere (try www.AccessAtlanta.com/partners/ajc if all else fails), but I'll give some highlights about the major players.

The chief justice, R. Lanier Anderson III, is from my parents home town of Macon, GA and is, in fact, a good friend of my parents (although I didn't know him until I got this job a couple of months ago). He is a genuinely nice man who will try to bring the judges together before he pushes his own opinion, but he is a Carter appointee and probably a little left of center. I doubt that he would be very partisan here.

J.L. Edmondson is in line to be the next chief justice when Anderson steps down. He is a Reagan appointee and probably the most conservative judge in the Circuit. He has more cases held up in his chambers than any other judge and has been the biggest hurdle to getting approval for my project.

Rosemary Barket is a junior judge who was appointed by Clinton. She is a former nun and perhaps the most liberal judge. She was the first female judge on the Florida Supreme Court and she is the biggest proponent of my project. I have spent more time with her than any other judge. When I first started here she asked to meet me, so I went to her chambers. She said she hoped I would be successful in getting this job done and that she and I would get along. She admitted that sometimes she had problems with tact. I assured her we would get along fine, since I had the same problem.

Hope you enjoy my comments. If so I'll post more as things occur.