When I heard about Judge Robert Vaughn Walker’s ruling on same-sex marriage, I immediately thought of one person.

Judge Susan Bolton.

On July 28, Susan Bolton issued an injunction that defanged the anti-immigrant SB 1070 in Arizona.

On Aug. 4, Vaughn Walker found California’s Proposition 8, which outlawed same-sex marriage, unconstitutional.

For this, they will both be tarred as “judicial activists.” Judge Bolton has received death threats. Judge Walker is being denounced.

When Florida's 27 electoral votes helped propel President Barack Obama to the White House, 13 percent of the votes were cast by African-American Floridians.

But without the opportunity to help elect the nation's first black president, there is some question about whether they will return to the polls in numbers anything like that this fall, even with high profile races for the U.S. Senate and for governor.