3dbbae6a_rt_decisions___Tampa_Bay_Times__Impact_on_merit_retention
[Case name and date] Nixon vs. State, 7/10/03 [Case summary] Joe Elton Nixon admitted to kidnapping, assaulting and killing a woman by burning her alive and was sentenced to death. He appealed his sentence, saying his attorney had an ineffective defense strategy because the lawyer decided not to contest Nixon's guilt. The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously reversed the Florida Supreme Court's decision in 2004 and Nixon remains on Death Row. [Ruling] 5-2. Pariente, Lewis and Quince sided with majority. [What majority said] The Supreme Court said Nixon should get a new trial, reversing a lower court's decision. Justices said there wasn't evidence that Nixon had agreed to his defense attorney's strategy, which was essentially a guilty plea. [Impact on merit retention] 
This has become perhaps the marquee case used by those who are hoping to get these justices removed from the bench, who argue it is an example of gross negligence on the court.
Ahead of merit retention vote, Times/Herald charts controversial Supreme Court decisions | Tampa Bay Times
Impact on merit retention