The process to select a successor to retiring Florida Supreme Court Justice Alan Lawson moved closer to a conclusion this month after a judicial nominating panel sent the names of its six finalists to Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The list of finalists approved by the Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission (JNC) includes 15th Circuit Judge Renatha Francis, who was selected by DeSantis for a high court seat in 2020 but was later rejected by the Supreme Court for not having been a Florida Bar member for at least 10 years.
Francis has encountered more controversy this time around. The Florida Bulldog, a nonprofit investigative journalism outlet in South Florida, reported that Francis was not truthful on her Supreme Court application form because she said no ethics complaints against her have been submitted to the state’s Judicial Qualifications Commission (JQC). As many as three such complaints have been filed against her, the publication said.
The other finalists on the list are Denise Harle, senior counsel and director of the Center for Life; Judges Robert Long and Adam Tanenbaum, both of the First District Court of Appeal; Judge Anne-Leigh Gaylord Moe of the 13th Circuit Court; and Judge Meredith Sasso of the Fifth District Court of Appeal.
Robert Jarvis, a professor at Nova Southeastern University’s School of Law, noted that about 650 complaints are filed annually against Florida judges, but most of them are dropped because they lack merit. A complaint filed against Francis over a divorce proceeding could be deemed meritless, Jarvis said.
Francis might argue that complaints filed against her slipped her mind or that she thought the JNC was referring to meritorious complaints only, he said. Meritorious claims are eventually made public, while baseless complaints are kept confidential.
“It’s really a question about whether DeSantis wants to take the heat for this,” Jarvis told the Florida Record. “It’s going to go one of two ways: He’s either already decided, as he did last time, that Francis is his pick and that’s why her name appeared on the list, and he’s willing to stand by her.”
Alternatively, it’s possible that DeSantis feels he can't or doesn't want to take more heat by picking her again, he said.
“The last time he picked her it didn’t go well for him,” Jarvis said. “... It's really going to be up to DeSantis to decide if he’s going to support her or if this causes him to pivot.”
Regardless of whom he chooses from the list, the seven-member court’s philosophical outlook won’t change since five of its current members are very conservative and the Republican governor wields substantial control over the entire nomination process, according to Jarvis.
DeSantis has 60 days to choose a nominee once he receives a JNC list of finalists.