Six appellate judges appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, two circuit judges and two lawyers have applied to fill a vacancy on the Florida Supreme Court, according to a nominating commission that will review the candidates and make recommendations to the governor.
The slate of applicants are seeking to replace Justice Charles Canady, the court’s longest-serving current member. Canady’s departure will give Gov. Ron DeSantis — who has appointed five of the seven current justices — an opportunity to place another jurist on the state’s highest court.
Candidates who submitted applications include three 6th District Court of Appeal judges appointed by DeSantis in 2023: Roger Gannam, Joshua Mize and Jared Smith. Two judges serving on the 1st District Court of Appeal — Robert Long, appointed by DeSantis in 2020, and Adam Tanenbaum, appointed by DeSantis in 2019 — also have applied. Other DeSantis appointees who have applied include 3rd District Court of Appeal Judge Alex Bokor of Miami, who was tapped by the governor in 2020, and Hillsborough County Circuit Judge Thomas Palermo, who was appointed by DeSantis to fill a vacancy on the 13th Judicial Circuit in 2019.
Twelfth Judicial Circuit Judge Hunter Carroll, who oversees cases in Sarasota County, also has applied. Other candidates who submitted applications before Wednesday’s 5 p.m. deadline are John Guard, chief deputy attorney general for Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, and Samuel Salario, a shareholder in the Lawson Huck Gonzalez firm founded by Alan Lawson, a former Florida Supreme Court justice. President Donald Trump nominated Guard to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida but his nomination has stalled. The Judicial Qualifications Commission will contact candidates for interviews on Friday, and the interviews are scheduled to take place in Tampa on Dec. 29, according to information distributed by The Florida Bar.
Based on the Florida Supreme Court’s current composition, the individual appointed to fill this vacancy must be a resident of Florida’s Second Appellate District at the time of appointment. The district includes Desoto, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas and Sarasota counties. Canady — whose wife, state Rep. Jennifer Canady, R-Lakeland, is in line to become state House speaker in 2028 — announced in November that he is leaving the bench next month to join the University of Florida as director of the Hamilton School for Classical and Civic Education.
DeSantis has appointed five of the current justices on the seven-member court: Chief Justice Carlos Muñiz and Justices John Couriel, Renatha Francis, Jamie Grosshans and Meredith Sasso.
–News Service of Florida
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