Craig Waters

Waters grew up in Pensacola, Florida, where he attended J. M. Tate High School.^[8] He took classes at Pensacola State College (then Pensacola Junior College) before transferring to Brown University.^[8]

Before law school, he worked for four years as a journalist for Gannett Company newspapers in Pensacola and Tallahassee.^[9] He received his Juris Doctor with Honors from the University of Florida College of Law (now the Levin College of Law), in 1986.^[8]

Waters worked as a reporter for four years with the Florida Gannett newspapers.^[10] He also founded the Florida Court Public Information Officers Inc. (FCPIO), a non-profit organized for educational purposes.^[11][12][13]

Waters began work at the Florida Supreme Court on March 2, 1987, as a law clerk for Justice Rosemary Barkett.^[14] He also advised Justice Gerald Kogan from Miami. Upon becoming Chief Justice in 1996, Kogan moved Waters permanently into court administration along with his communications job.^[15]

In the early 1990s, Waters helped create and expand the Florida Supreme Court's website.^[16] In 1994, he led an effort to place all court documents from high-profile cases on the World Wide Web for instant public access.^[7][17]

In September 1997, in cooperation with Florida State University, Waters launched the first comprehensive program to broadcast all court arguments live on television, via satellite, on cable systems, and through webcasts. That program, now called Gavel to Gavel,^[18] remains in place and has been imitated by other courts.^[19] Several news sites mentioned Waters' work in 2000 for putting pressure on federal courts and the U.S. Supreme Court to provide the public greater technological access to their proceedings.^[20][21]

Waters had worked at the Florida Supreme Court since 1987. In the early 2000s, Waters made the Florida Supreme Court a pioneer in using emerging social media platforms to communicate with the public.^[22][23] This work was influenced by Waters' prior career as a journalist^[24] and by his experience as a gay man.^[25]

In 2015, Waters began implementing Chief Justice Jorge Labarga's plans, approved by the entire Court, for a statewide communications plan for the state courts. The plan relied heavily on the use of Public Information Officers (PIOs) at all 27 divisions of the Florida State Courts and calls for increasing use of social media and emerging technologies such as smartphones. The plan was implemented through the Florida Court Public Information Officers, Inc.^[26] Waters retired after 35 years on February 28, 2022.^[27][28]

For more than a month following the November 7, 2000 election, Florida's vote for the presidency remained undecided and too close to call, with the outcome hinging on legal decisions from the Florida Supreme Court that were announced by Waters on live television.^[29][30] The first decision occurred on November 21, 2000, with Waters announcing a court ruling extending the vote-counting deadline previously set by Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris. The second was on December 8, 2000, with Waters announcing a decision requiring a statewide recount of ballots. The United States Supreme Court overruled this last decision on December 12, 2000, in an opinion that effectively awarded the presidency to George W. Bush.^[31]

Waters is portrayed in the HBO movie Recount by actor Alex Staggs. The film, which premiered on May 25, 2008, chronicled the events in Florida during the presidential election lawsuits and appeals.^[32]

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  Waters talks with reporters before oral arguments, December 7, 2000
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  The actual Florida Supreme Court listens to December 7, 2000, arguments
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  Photo of actor Alex Staggs taken during filming on location for HBO movie Recount, November 3, 2007, on the front steps of the Florida Supreme Court Building in Tallahassee, Florida.
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  Reenactment of the December 7 argument during filming on November 4, 2007