The Operation and Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Florida

Court's jurisdiction, total court filings decreased.3 Yet by 2003, filings had risen to 2486. 4 This rise has been accompanied by actions by the Court to increase support staff while restricting its discretionary review jurisdiction in certain categories of cases.Another historical shift of the last decade is of great importance: the technological revolution of the 1990s-most particularly the advent of the World Wide Web'-has had a profound impact both on the Court's internal operations and on the way it interacts with the public and the media.At the time this article first was published, the World Wide Web was in its infancy.6 The original authors 7 were only dimly aware that technology staff within the Office of the State Courts Administrator had posted a handful of pages on this medium in 1994.This made the Florida State Courts one of the first judicial bodies in the world-if not the first-to have a permanent presence on the Internet.From that single innovation, much else followed.By 1995, the Supreme Court of Florida began greatly expanding its web presence with the addition of information dedicated solely to its own operations and procedures.8 In 1996, it posted its first press page, 9 making briefs and other Court documents available instantaneously on a world wide basis.This use of the Web to distribute court documents and information was novel at the time, though soon widely imitated, and is standard practice today.This use resulted in the Court's first formal public information program, 1 ° 3.