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Renatha Francis

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Renatha Francis
Justice of the Supreme Court of Florida
Incumbent
Assumed office
September 1, 2022
Appointed byRon DeSantis
Preceded byC. Alan Lawson
Judge of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida
In office
November 4, 2019 – September 1, 2022
Appointed byRon DeSantis
Preceded byMeenu Sasser
Succeeded byvacant
Judge of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court of Florida
In office
June 4, 2018 – November 4, 2019
Appointed byRick Scott
Preceded bySarah I. Zabel
Succeeded byRamiro Areces
Judge of the Miami-Dade County Court
In office
August 14, 2017 – June 4, 2018
Appointed byRick Scott
Preceded byJason Dimitris
Personal details
Born1977 (age 46–47)[1]
Portmore, Jamaica[2]
EducationUniversity of the West Indies (BS)
Florida Coastal School of Law (JD)

Renatha Sian Francis[3] (born 1977) is an American lawyer who has served as a justice of the Supreme Court of Florida since 2022. She previously served as a circuit judge in Palm Beach County from 2019 to 2022.

Early life, education, and career

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Francis was born and raised in Jamaica. She attended St Hugh's High School and the University of the West Indies, receiving a Bachelor of Science, magna cum laude, in 2001.[4] Francis operated a bar and a trucking company while attending college in Jamaica.[4][5]

Francis moved to Florida in 2004 and graduated from Florida Coastal School of Law with a Juris Doctor in 2010.[4][5] She began her legal career as a law clerk at Florida's First District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee from 2011 to 2017.[4]

Francis worked briefly as a litigator at the law firm Shutts & Bowen in Miami before being appointed to the Miami-Dade County Court in 2017 by Governor Rick Scott.[4][5] Scott elevated her to Miami-Dade's Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court in 2018, and Governor Ron DeSantis laterally appointed her to the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit Court in Palm Beach County in 2019. Francis was assigned to the probate and family division at the Fifteenth Circuit.[5]

Florida Supreme Court

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2020 nomination

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On January 23, 2020, the Florida Judicial Nominating Commission submitted a list of names for two existing Florida Supreme Court vacancies to the Governor. Under the state constitution, the Governor was allowed up to 60 days to make an appointment from that list of a person constitutionally eligible for the office. Francis's name was on the list.[6]

On May 26, 2020, Governor Ron DeSantis announced he was appointing Francis to the Supreme Court of Florida.[7] Had she been allowed to take her seat, Francis would have been the first non-Cuban Caribbean-American on the court and possibly the first non-Cuban Caribbean-American to sit on any state’s supreme court. DeSantis said the delay in making the appointment was due to conditions created by the coronavirus pandemic.[8]

Because the Florida Constitution requires Supreme Court justices to have been a member of the Florida Bar for ten years, Francis was ineligible. At first, she did not plan to take her seat until September 24, 2020, when she reached the ten-year mark.[9] For this reason, Representative Geraldine Thompson filed a petition with the Supreme Court of Florida to invalidate the appointment and require the State's Judicial Nominating Commission to certify a new list of nominees for the Governor to appoint from.

On August 27, 2020, the Court ruled that Governor DeSantis exceeded his authority in appointing Judge Francis because she was not eligible. However, the court also ruled that the proper remedy was to require the governor to choose someone else's name from the list previously submitted to him, and it denied the petition as Thompson did not seek that remedy.[10] Subsequently, Representative Thompson sought rehearing and asked to amend her petition. The Court denied rehearing but granted amendment to seek the proper remedy.

On September 11, 2020, the Court granted Representative Thompson's petition and ordered Governor DeSantis to appoint someone else from the same list. The court determined that Judge Francis was ineligible by the date the appointment was required to be made on March 23, 2020, the end of the 60-day period imposed by the state constitution. Later that same day, Judge Francis withdrew her name from further consideration.[11] The following Monday, before announcing the appointment of Jamie Grosshans to the Florida Supreme Court, DeSantis announced that he recommended Francis to then President Donald Trump for appointment to the Federal Southern District of Florida.[12] Trump did not appoint her.

2022 appointment

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In 2022, Justice Alan Lawson announced his retirement from the Supreme Court of Florida. Francis, who was now eligible, applied to succeed him.[13] She was favored for the appointment.[14]

On August 5, 2022, Governor DeSantis announced Francis's new appointment to the Supreme Court of Florida, effective September 1, 2022. She is the court's first Jamaican-American justice.[15][16]

Personal life

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She and her late husband Phillip are the parents of two sons.[17]

References

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  1. ^ "BREAKING NEWS: Gov. DeSantis appoints Renatha Francis to the Florida Supreme Court". Florida Family Voice. August 5, 2022.
  2. ^ "Application for Nomination to the Florida Supreme Court" (PDF). The Florida Bar. December 4, 2019. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
  3. ^ "Section Member Profile – Renatha Sian Francis – The Florida Bar". Retrieved May 26, 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d e Hinds, Lester (2020-05-27). "Renatha Francis Is First Jamaican Judge In Florida Supreme Court". Jamaica Gleaner. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
  5. ^ a b c d Gross, Samantha J. (2020-05-26). "Ron DeSantis announces two more appointments to the Florida Supreme Court". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
  6. ^ Killian, Mark D. (January 23, 2020). "Supreme Court JNC sends none names to the governor to fill two vacancies". The Florida Bar. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
  7. ^ Wilson, Kirby (May 26, 2020). "Ron DeSantis Announces two More Appointments to the Florida Supreme Court". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
  8. ^ Killian, Mark D. (May 26, 2020). "Francis, Couriel appointed to the Florida Supreme Court". The Florida Bar. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
  9. ^ Musgrave, Jane (2020-01-23). "Supreme Court finalist from PBC couldn't take job for six months". Palm Beach Post. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
  10. ^ Thompson v. DeSantis, SC20-985 (Fla. Aug. 27, 2020), https://www.floridasupremecourt.org/content/download/643604/7309482/file/sc20-985.pdf
  11. ^ Rohrer, Gray (2020-09-11). "Renatha Francis withdraws, hours after Supreme Court invalidates her appointment and orders DeSantis to pick a new justice". Retrieved 2020-09-12.
  12. ^ Marcus, Noreen (2020-09-20). "Florida Supreme Court reject Renatha Francis in line for federal judgeship". Florida Bulldog. Retrieved 2023-04-30.
  13. ^ "17 hopefuls vie for Florida Supreme Court opening". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 2023-04-30.
  14. ^ Marcus, Noreen (2022-05-18). "DeSantis said to pre-select for Florida Supreme Court once rejected Renatha Francis". Florida Bulldog. Retrieved 2023-04-30.
  15. ^ Frazier, Francine (5 August 2022). "Gov. DeSantis again appoints Judge Renatha Francis to Florida Supreme Court". WJXT. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
  16. ^ "Justice Francis takes her seat on the Supreme Court", The Florida Bar News, Vol. 49, No. 10 (October 2022). p. 1.
  17. ^ "Governor Ron DeSantis Appoints Judge Renatha Francis to Serve as First Jamaican-American on the Florida Supreme Court" (Press release). May 26, 2020.
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Legal offices
Preceded by Justice of the Supreme Court of Florida
2022–present 		Incumbent
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