TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WFLA) – Governor Ron DeSantis missed a noon request Monday to appoint a new justice to the Florida Supreme Court. The court then issued a new order just before 3 p.m., giving the governor until 5 p.m. to make the appointment.
However, during a 5 p.m. press conference at the Florida State Capitol, DeSantis announced he has appointed Judge Jamie Grosshans. She was appointed to the Fifth District Court of Appeal in 2018 by Governor Rick Scott.
Grosshans is now the fifth woman to be appointed to the Florida Supreme Court.
As the clock ticked noon, there had been no official notification from the governor that he had complied with this state Supreme Court order to name a new justice.
At 11:38 a.m., an email titled the “Governor’s Daily Digest” promised an announcement about the future of the Supreme Court.
The governor’s lawyers previously told the court there was not enough time to vet the remaining candidates by the noon deadline.
Representative Geraldine Thompson said that was inexcusable.
“Those individuals were vetted back in January and between January and May, he had an opportunity to look at all of them,” Thompson said.
“He is just lawless and doesn’t feel that rules apply to him,” Thompson said of DeSantis missing the deadline. “He feels he doesn’t have to follow the constitution and its very distressing, very troubling.”
For only the second time since 1975, Florida’s high court is without an African American on the bench.
The irony is that it was an African American woman who kept another black justice from taking a seat on the court.
“But if you want a person of color, you’ll take an unqualified person of color. And no, I do not subscribe to that philosophy,” Thompson said.
Renatha Francis was scheduled to fill the vacancy later this month when she hit her 10th anniversary as a member of the Florida Bar, but the court ruled Friday she was ineligible when her name was put on the nominating list. Later that day, Francis decided to withdraw from consideration.
During Monday’s press conference, DeSantis also announced he gave the president his consideration for Judge Francis to become a Federal Supreme Court judge.
“I did not feel that she had been treated very well throughout this process. And so I picked up the phone and I called the president of the United States,” DeSantis said. “I told the president what had happened, I told him that we have a great judge down here in Florida who was going to be on the Supreme Court and while that didn’t work out I think she would make a great federal judge in the southern district of Florida.
DeSantis said Francis has his “full support” and his recommendation is “actively under consideration.”
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