State rep seeks to preclude Francis
TALLAHASSEE — A state lawmaker from Windermere has filed a lawsuit challenging one of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ latest appointments to the Florida Supreme Court, arguing that Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Renatha Francis is unqualified for the post.
DeSantis in May announced that he was appointing Francis and Miami attorney John Couriel to replace former justices Barbara Lagoa and Robert Luck, who left the Supreme Court after being named by President Donald Trump to the Atlantabased 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Couriel has joined the Supreme Court, but Francis is ineligible to serve as a justice until Sept. 24, when she will mark her 10th year as a member of The Florida Bar.
“The plain and unambiguous language of the Florida Constitution requires that an individual satisfy that requirement prior to being eligible for appointment,” according to Monday’s lawsuit filed by Rep. Geraldine Thompson.
The lawsuit asks the court to order the Judicial Nomination Committee to immediately provide DeSantis with a new list of nominees and asks that the
JNC “strongly consider including for consideration the six fully qualified African-American candidates who applied for the vacancies in this case.”
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court asked DeSantis to file a response by Aug. 3, with oral arguments to be scheduled at a later date. Francis was born in Jamaica and is slated to become the first non-Cuban person of Caribbean heritage to serve on the Supreme Court, DeSantis said when he announced the appointments on May 26. She also would be the first Black justice since Peggy Quince retired early last year and would be the only woman on the court.
The lawsuit alleges that the Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission “exceeded the limits of its authority” by including Francis’ name on a list of nine nominees sent to DeSantis in January.
The 32 initial applicants for the two posts included several black or Caribbean-American applicants, and all but Francis had been members of the Bar for the requisite decade at the time they applied, Thompson’s attorneys wrote in the lawsuit filed with the Supreme Court late Monday.
Thompson, who is Black, noted that she “fully supports racial and gender diversity” on the Supreme Court. Under the Supreme Court’s rules, the nominating commission cannot recommend appointees to the governor “unless the commission finds that the nominee meets all constitutional and statutory requirements” to serve as a justice.
“There is nothing in the Florida Constitution or the JNC rules which provide the JNC with authority to nominate an individual for potential appointment to the Supreme Court where that individual may become eligible for that position on some future date,” wrote William Ponall and Lisabeth Fryer, who represent Thompson.
DeSantis’ office did not respond to a request for comment.