The longest-serving current member of the Florida Supreme Court, Justice Charles Canady, is leaving the bench to join the University of Florida as director of the Hamilton School for Classical and Civic Education.
Canady — whose wife, state Rep. Jennifer Canady, is in line to become state House speaker in 2028 — announced his departure Monday, calling it a “great privilege to serve the people of Florida as a justice” for the past 17 years.
“I will always deeply value my years on the court. But the time has come to move on to another position of public service,” Canady, 71, said in the statement, adding that he will begin as director and a tenured professor at the Hamilton School in 2026.
Canady’s departure will give Gov. Ron DeSantis — who has appointed five of the seven current justices — an opportunity to name a replacement. Canady was appointed in August 2008 by then-Gov. Charlie Crist, who months later appointed Justice Jorge Labarga.
Canady, who served as chief justice three times, is a Lakeland native and former lawmaker.
Canady served in the state House from 1984 until 1990 and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1992. He served four terms in Congress before deciding not to seek reelection in 2000, after promising not to serve more than eight years.
He returned to Florida and joined former Gov. Jeb Bush’s administration as general counsel. Bush appointed Canady to the 2nd District Court of Appeal, where he worked until Crist tapped him for the Supreme Court. Crist at the time was a Republican but later became a Democrat.
For years, Canady and other conservatives frequently dissented on what was a liberal-leaning court. But that changed with DeSantis’ conservative remake of the court that started in 2019, after the mandatory retirements of former Justices Barbara Pariente, Peggy Quince and R. Fred Lewis.
As a lawmaker, Canady earned a reputation as a conservative, including as an outspoken opponent of abortion. Canady is even credited with coining the politically-charged term “partial birth abortion” and writing the original legislation that attempted to ban the practice while he was in Congress.
Canady also was a key player in one of the most partisan moments in modern American history, helping prosecute former President Bill Clinton during the president’s 1999 impeachment trial.
Canady’s wife, Jennifer, was elected to the state House in 2022 and is on track to become speaker after the 2028 elections.
Charles Canady was born into a politically connected Polk County family – his father, Charles E. Canady, was a longtime aide to the late Sen. and Gov. Lawton Chiles. Canady’s appointment to the Hamilton School will fulfill an old flirtation of pursuing a career in academia, which he abandoned after attending law school.
“I had an interest in political science and I thought about pursuing an academic career in that arena, but I didn’t quite have the passion for that that I thought would be necessary to do that. The law seemed to be always what I came back to,” Canady told The News Service of Florida in a 2010 interview in advance of his first stint as chief justice. “And I’m very glad that I did. I have never one day in my life as a lawyer regretted my decision to become a lawyer.”
At the time, Canady said his political past had not shaped his outlook as a judge but might have given him a particularly strong appreciation for the separation of powers.
“My approach to deciding cases is I look at the law, I look at the facts and I do my best to apply the law to the facts and make a decision based on the law and the facts,” he said.
Canady will be able to flex his conservative credentials at the Hamilton School, which is part of Republican state leaders’ efforts to replace such things as diversity, equity and inclusion efforts with more traditional instruction.
The school is “leading a higher education revolution,” according to its website.
“Now more than ever, the world needs critical thinkers filled with fresh ideas and the courage to ask bigger questions. At the Hamilton School, we prepare you to think deeply, explore widely, speak with conviction, and lead with purpose,” the website says. “Our world-class researchers, who are just as passionate about mentoring students, teach the ideas and habits of thought that founded our country and sustain our free society.”
–Dara Kam, News Service of Florida
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