Renatha Francis falsifiedly stated on her application for membership to the Florida Supreme Court, that she has never been the recipient of an ethics complaint. This is a possible offense under Florida law.
Francis, a West Palm Beach family court judge, was named as Gov. Ron DeSantis, Ron’s favourite candidate for the job, replied “No” to the question: “Has there ever been a complaint against you to the Judicial Qualifications Commission?” In that case, the applicant should provide details to JQC, which is a state agency that investigates allegations regarding judicial misconduct.
Francis signed the application she submitted to Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission. She declared that she had answered all questions truthfully, fully, and completely.
Francis has been the subject of at least one JQC complaint, and possibly three. One of those complaints was filed last week by Angela Bentrim, Loxahatchee. Florida Bulldog detailed it.
Here is a screenshot of Judge Renatha Francis’s Supreme Court application, showing the JQC question as well as her answer.
A second-degree misdemeanor is making a false official statement in writing in order to mislead public servants in the discharge of their official duties. This can lead to up to 60 days imprisonment and a $500 fine under Florida Statutes Section837.
Francis didn’t respond to an email request for comment.
JQC LETTER REGARDING CASE
Francis’s Supreme Court application was dated May 18. Five weeks prior, Francis’s Supreme Court application was dated May 18.
In a letter dated April 12, Blan Teagle, JQC executive director, wrote that investigators had twice examined Bentrim’s complaint and “declined” to take further action. She is the ex-wife of Francis in a continuing post-divorce case at Francis’s Palm Beach Circuit Court docket.
Teagle replied to Florida Bulldog’s emailed questions by stating that he could only share general information about the Francis complaint. He stated that the Investigative Panel of the commission reviews complaints twice if there is a request for reconsideration.
Teagle did not address the question of whether a Supreme Court candidate should lose their certification for making a false statement on an application.
In an interview with Florida Bulldog, Rep. Geraldine Thomson, D-Orlando said that “the whole thing is a joke.” “You don’t want someone who has been dishonest at the Florida Supreme Court.”
Thompson stated that the “core of the matter” is whether Francis was aware of any complaints she had received. “Did they notify her?”
JQC rules require that investigators have informed her. Teagle to Bentrim’s letter indicates that her complaint was twice reviewed. This cannot occur if the judge that is the subject of the complaint is not notified and given the opportunity to respond.
Thompson stated that she is aware of two additional ethics complaints against Francis.
Fred Karlinsky, chair of the Judicial Nominating Commission, asked Francis if she had any concerns about her background at the end Francis’s interview on June 11.
Francis replied, “I’ve been vetted many times and there’s absolutely no in my past.”
JNC DID NOT ASK FRANCIS COMPLAINT
The Judicial Nominating Commission is responsible for examining Supreme Court candidates. Did its members know about the JQC complaint/complaints made against Francis? It was not mentioned by Francis in her broadcast interview on June 11, and she made a misleading application.
Florida Bulldog asked Karlinsky (a partner in Greenberg Traurig’s law firm) if he knew that a JQC case had been filed. He also inquired if that was concerning him. Over two days, he did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
In her complaint, Bentrim accused Francis of violating her right to due process. She claimed that the judge failed to notify her in advance of dozens hearings and other procedural issues, then she ruled against herself at every turn.
Francis took revenge against Bentrim after she complained to the Fourth District Court of Appeal that Francis was biased against her. The higher court disagreed.
Angela Bentrim appealed at least half a dozen times during the two years Francis has been overseeing the Bentrim litigation. Only one of her appeals was won by Angela Bentrim, and that appeal was not contested or disputed by Jeffrey Bentrim, her ex-husband.
Senior appellate Judge Martha Warner disapproved of an order favoring Jeffrey Bentrim. She also criticized Francis’ factual findings without supporting evidence; and, she denied Angela Bentrim the right for mediation despite the Bentrims’ marital agreement requiring it.
Francis must have thought about the Bentrim case when she submitted her Supreme Court application. She put it on a list that included cases where she was reversed in appeal. The Fourth District reversed Francis’s sanction of Angela Bentrim on March 9 and upheld Francis’s refusal to sanction Jeffrey Bentrim during a fight over confidential records.
DISPLAYING CONSERVATIVE CREDITIALS
Francis, 45, demonstrated why she is a great fit for a court with far-right views at her JNC interview. As his predecessor, Gov. Rick Scott: DeSantis has filled the court with conservative justices. Some of them are young enough to change Florida law for many decades.
Francis made a brief opening statement in which she declared her belief in “textualism and originalism,” two buzzwords that are used to describe her commitment to conservative principles. She later said that she admires Chief Justice Charles Canady, Justice Ricky Polston and Justice Ricky Polston who are prominent conservatives that she hopes will become her colleagues.
Francis stated that she follows a reformer’s approach when it comes to settled law or precedent. She said that precedent should be used if a court has “gotten it right”. If an earlier ruling is “clearly wrong,” she said, the Supreme Court is obliged to “revisit” it, especially if it concerns the Constitution.
Francis shared a controversial opinion in January 2020, State Vs. Poole. This was when the Supreme Court majority reversed an eight-year-old precedent in a case involving death penalty. The majority accused the liberal 2016 court, of disregarding “decades” worth of settled law and supporting jurors’ roles in sentencing.
The unsigned opinion states that “Under these conditions, it would be unreasonable to us not to withdraw from [the previous Court’s] erroneous findings.”
Justice Jorge Labarga dissented in “the strongest possible terms.” Labarga is the court’s only remaining moderate and has harshly criticised his colleagues for not respecting precedent in other cases.
FRANCIS’S LAW SCHOOL NOW DEFUNCT
Francis’s JNC interview with Francis touched on one topic: Florida Coastal, Jacksonville. However, the school’s history was not mentioned.
Francis graduated in 2010. She was in the top three percent of her class, according to her Supreme Court application. During the interview, she stated that Florida Coastal was the best school for her because it offered free tuition her first year.
Florida Coastal’s reputation has plummeted since Francis’s time. Although technically accredited, the school has stopped accepting new students since last year.
Federal fiscal responsibility standards were not met by the for-profit school. Florida Coastal “operated recklessly, irresponsibly” and put its students at risk. This was according to Richard Cordray of U.S. Department of Education in a May 2021 press release.
Florida Coastal was one of the three remaining law schools in a group called The InfiLaw System. InfiLaw had already sold Jacksonville’s school and closed the Charlotte School of Law, North Carolina, and the Arizona Summit Law School, Phoenix.