WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Palm Beach County Judge Renatha Francis is about to turn into the latest member of the Florida Supreme Court.
Gov. Ron DeSantis made the announcement Friday morning on the historic outdated Palm Beach County courthouse in downtown West Palm Beach.
The appointment of Francis comes after the state’s Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission announced in June that she was amongst six candidates into account for the emptiness.
Francis stated Friday that she was “incredibly honored and humbled by this appointment.”
This is not the primary time that DeSantis has nominated her to turn into a justice on the Supreme Court.
Francis made headlines in May 2020 when the governor appointed the judge to serve on the state’s highest courtroom.
However, simply three months later, the Florida Supreme Court dominated that the governor exceeded his authority as a result of he appointed Francis earlier than she was eligible.
“We actually had someone file a lawsuit to try to keep her off the court because they said she can’t be appointed until she reaches the 10-year mark,” DeSantis stated throughout Friday’s announcement. “And, look, it was a disputed point of law. The Judicial Nominating Commission thought it was fine to nominate and have take office at 10 years. I thought it was fine to appoint and have that appointment be effective at 10 years. Florida Supreme Court disagreed.”
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DeSantis stated that, regardless of her appointment two years in the past, he did an intensive assessment of certified candidates this time round, “because there may have been people two years ago that have progressed a lot, and so it wasn’t anything that she was entitled to just because she got it two years ago.”
The governor stated “she’s done even better” since her 2020 appointment, “and she was really good on everything.”
Francis, born in Jamaica, would turn into the primary Caribbean-American to take a seat on the Florida Supreme Court. She moved to Florida after working two companies in Jamaica.
She will turn into the one Black justice at the moment serving on the courtroom and simply the second feminine alongside Judge Jamie Grosshans.
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“The Florida Supreme Court protects the people’s liberty and inherent in the way that we do that as a judiciary is by respecting and observing the limited role that judges play in our constitutional system of government,” Francis stated.
Francis is filling the emptiness of Justice Alan Lawson, an appointee of Gov. Rick Scott, who is about to go away the bench Aug. 31.
Francis has been a judge in Palm Beach County since 2019, when DeSantis appointed her to the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit. She was first appointed to the Miami-Dade County courtroom bench by Scott in 2017.