Ja-born judge renominated for Florida Supreme Court

Jamaica-born Justice Renatha Francis, who was nominated to be a judge in the Florida Supreme Court in 2020 but withdrew her nomination, is again nominated by Governor Ron DeSantis to sit in the state high court.

Her renomination was announced on Monday. Francis’ name was among nine submitted by the Judicial Nominating Commission and sent to the governor for one to be appointed to the court. Francis is believed to be the front runner to fill the vacancy in the Florida court when Judge Alan Lawson retires at the end of August, having reached the mandatory age of 75 years for retirement.

Francis, who was born in Jamaica and attended St Hugh’s High School and later The University of the West Indies before migrating in 2004, where she received her law degree from Florida Coastal Law School, withdrew her previous nomination after the Florida Supreme Court held that she did not satisfy the mandatory requirement of being a member of the Florida Bar for at least 10 years.

This is after a democratic state lawmaker brought a lawsuit questioning the legality of the appointment given that Francis had not been a member of the Florida Bar for the required 10-year minimum time.

The suit argued that the Judicial Nominating Commission should not have included Francis because of this requirement.

EXCEEDED HIS AUTHORITY

In a 5-0 ruling at the time, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that Governor Ron DeSantis exceeded his authority when he appointed Francis to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court in May of 2020. The court held that the appointee must be constitutionally eligible for that office at the time of the appointment.

“The governor has not complied with the constitution’s clear commands,” the high court ruling stated at the time.

But while the court invalidated the appointment in principle, it also did not change the outcome. When DeSantis first announced Francis’ nomination, he said that she would not have taken up her appointment until after September 24 that year when she would have fulfilled the 10-year bar requirement

However, Francis formally wrote to the governor following the court’s ruling in 2020 to withdraw her nomination.

“In light of the circumstances, I have decided to withdraw my name for consideration for the position. I thank you (Governor DeSantis) for your support and for standing by me throughout this process for which I am incredibly humble,” she wrote.

Francis, whose nomination was first announced in May by the governor to fill one of two vacant positions in the supreme court, sits in the Palm Beach Court.

She would have been the first Jamaican and any Caribbean appointed to the state’s highest court.

Francis migrated to the United States as an adult and worked her way through law school while raising a younger sibling, a fact cited by the governor when he announced her nomination.

editorial@gleanerjm.com