On Thursday, the Florida Supreme Court dismissed six challenges to the eligibility for six candidates for seats in the state appeals courts that were being restructured. This set the stage for Governor. Ron DeSantis will make appointments.
Justices rejected arguments that challenged candidates were ineligible due to their residence outside the jurisdictions of both the 5th District Court of Appeal or the 6th District Court of Appeal.
According to the ruling, a residency requirement will apply when judges are appointed and not when candidates are submitted by judicial nomination commissions. DeSantis is appointed from the lists of nominees made by the commissions.
“Given the Florida Constitution allows for a 60-day delay between the certification of nominations by a commission and the deadline for gubernatorial appointments, and in the absence any clear textual direction to that contrary, we cannot claim that the Constitution imposes an eligibility requirement at the time the nomination is made,” Chief Justice Carlos Muniz stated in a 13-page opinion. “We believe that the Constitution allows the commissions to choose whether or not to nominate candidates who are residents at nomination.
Renatha Francis, Justice Ricky Polston, and Associate Justice Ivan Fernandez all joined Muniz’s view. Justice Jorge Labarga disagreed with some of the opinions and dissented from others. Labarga stated in his partial dissent that the Supreme Court should have addressed the issue of whether the 5th District Court of Appeal Judicial Nominating Commission or the 6th District Court of Appeal Judicial Nominating Commission had violated their rules.
The case was rescheduled for John Couriel, Charles Canady and Jamie Grosshans. Couriel and Canady served as references to three-appeals candidates. Josh Grosshans is a member of 6th District Court of Appeal Judicial Nominating Commission.
Fernandez was temporarily appointed as the chief judge of South Florida’s 3rd District Court of Appeal. This was to ensure that the Supreme Court had enough justices to resolve the case. Five justices are required to form quorums in order for the seven-member Supreme Court.
This case stemmed from the Legislature’s approval of a plan (HB7027) this year that added the 6th District Court of Appeal to the 1st District Court of Appeal, 2nd District Court of Appeal, and 5th District Court of Appeal. DeSantis will appoint judges to fill the vacant positions.
After the 5th District Court of Appeal Judicial Nominating Commission, and the 6th District Court of Appeal Judicial Nominating Commission had sent DeSantis lists of potential candidates, state senator Geraldine Thompson, D–Windermere and Whitney Boan, Volusia County resident, filed legal challenges.
Thompson claimed that four of the 18 candidates, including Mike Beltran (R-Lithia), were not eligible for seats on 6th District Court of Appeal, because they didn’t live in its jurisdiction. Boan claimed that two of the 15 candidates, including John MacIver (chairman of the state Gaming Control Commission), were not eligible to sit on seats on 5th District Court of Appeal.
Attorneys for Boan stated last month that allowing individuals to be nominated for positions at a court of appeal where they are not located would be a violation of the Florida Constitution.
The Attorney General Ashley Moody and the judicial nominating committees disagreed that candidates had to reside in the respective jurisdictions when they were nominated. In court filings, the commissions stated that the nominees could, if chosen, meet the residency requirements when the appointments take effect.
One of the filings stated that the JNC (the 6th District Court of Appeal Judicial Nominating Commission), asked each nominee if they would be residents of the Sixth DCA jurisdictional area. Each nominee confirmed it.” “The JNC so fully fulfilled its obligations and the direction of the Supreme Court in determining that nominees were willing to fulfill the residential requirement.”
The 6th District Court of Appeal will hear appeals from the 9th, 10th, and 20th judicial Circuits. This area includes Orange, Osceola and Hardee counties as well as Polk, Charlotte and Collier.
The 5th District Court of Appeal will hear appeals from Volusia County. It will be located in Volusia County.
Thompson challenged the eligibility of Beltran who is from Hillsborough County. He also targeted the 6th District Court of Appeal candidacies of Leon County Circuit Judge Stephen Everett and Hillsborough County Circuit Judge Jared Smith.
Boan challenged the eligibility of Paige Kilbane, Palm Beach County Circuit Judge, and MacIver as a Leon County resident in the 5th District Court of Appeal case.