Renatha Francis was finally elected to the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday. This is two years after her nomination was rejected by her fellow justices. She didn’t have the minimum qualification of being a member of the Florida Bar for ten years.
According to Paul Flemming, Francis took the oath in private at the Supreme Court Building in Tallahassee. Since Justice Peggy Quince retired in 2019, she is the first Black woman to be elected to the highest court of the state.
Chief Justice Muniz sworn her in today. The ceremony was informal and took place in the courtroom, with colleagues and family present. Flemming sent an email stating that Justice Francis placed her hand on the Bible of her husband and their two young sons.
“Justices have been sworn into office in the past at their homes, offices or other locations by different people. There is no tradition or requirement except for the words prescribed by the Constitution. This is the last step in the ministerial act for a new justice in office. The governor gives the credentials and then swears in.
Francis will be facing a merit-retention vote in November 2024, which is the first general election that has been held for more than one calendar year after her appointment. The court will be re-elected or removed by the voters.
Francis will be deciding the appeal against Florida’s ban on abortion for 15 weeks. This is one of the first controversies he will need to resolve. In 1989, the court ruled that the privacy clause that voters inserted in the Florida Constitution in 1980 protected access to the procedure, despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s rejection of Roe v. Wade. However, there is no guarantee that the court as it stands now will follow that precedent.
Francis was just a few months away from fulfilling the bar-membership mandate when he was appointed Governor. Ron DeSantis tried first to place Francis on the court, but he was just a few months away from fulfilling the bar-membership mandate at the time Gov. It was rejected by the Supreme Court. DeSantis appointed Jamie Grosshans, an appellate judge.
The governor was given a chance to resign following the announcement of Justice Alan Lawson’s retirement. He took it and announced Francis’ appointment on August 5. Wednesday was Lawson’s last day at the court.
Francis and Grosshans now represent the only two women in the seven-member court.
Francis is a Jamaican immigrant who holds a law degree at the Florida Coastal School of Law. The school closed last year due to financial and accreditation issues, as well as low success rates in passing the bar and finding work for graduates.
DeSantis attempted to portray Francis’ inexperience as a plus by pointing out that she owned businesses, including a trucking business, before she entered the law. Francis worked later as an attorney at Florida First District Court of Appeal, as well as as a judge at the Palm Beach Circuit Court or Miami-Dade County Court.
DeSantis stated that she had worked in other fields before becoming a lawyer and that it was a good thing to hire someone from a different background than someone who was born into a legal family.
Francis also failed to disclose in her court application that she was the subject of judicial ethics complaints, according to the Florida Bulldog.
Theological fidelity
Francis’ lack of gravitas is compensated by her loyalty to DeSantis’ ideological leanings through her affiliation to the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies. This association advocates for either “originalist” and “textualist” interpretations to the U.S. Constitution. It holds that judges should consider what the framers intended at the end of the Eighteenth Century.
DeSantis has been associated with the society, and has provided support to its members in the Florida judiciary, which includes the Supreme Court and the judicial nomination commissions that recommend judges. The 6-3 conservative supermajority on the U.S. Supreme Court was the result of a similar dynamic.
“The Florida Supreme Court protects citizens’ liberty. Respecting and maintaining the limited role of judges in our constitutional government system is an inherent part of the way we do this in the judiciary. Alexander Hamilton explained the meaning of that. We do not exercise force or will, but only judgement. She stated last month that we apply the law as it is written.”