By Noreen Marcus, FloridaBulldog.org
Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Palm Beach Circuit Judge Renatha Francis to the Florida Supreme Court Friday, ignoring documented incidents that call into question her fitness to serve on the state’s most powerful tribunal.
As of Sept. 1, Francis, 45, will be the first Jamaican-American on the Tallahassee court. With her appointment, DeSantis will have named a majority of the seven justices, all but one of whom are far-right conservatives. She replaces Justice Alan Lawson, who will retire on Aug. 31.
The court is the final stop for some of the most significant issues decided by the state judiciary, among them constitutional matters and death penalty cases. The justices will eventually review, and are expected to approve, the Florida Legislature’s latest abortion ban.
Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Harry Lee Anstead recently wrote an opinion piece for the Tallahassee Democrat in which he implied that adding Francis to the court would be an “embarrassment” because she lacks experience. He could not be reached Friday for comment.
Florida Bulldog reported on May 18 that DeSantis pre-selected Francis for the Lawson opening even before the formal vetting process began. He previously chose her for the court in 2020 but said Friday he closely reviewed her background again before making his decision.
“I believe that this appointment of Judge Francis is one that will really reinvigorate and fortify our judiciary in a very positive way,” DeSantis said on Friday to cheers at the West Palm Beach courthouse where Francis works in the family division.
“Judge Francis is proof that you can start out with long odds and you can still do great things,” he said.
‘EPITOME OF THE AMERICAN DREAM’
“I stand before you the epitome of the American dream,” Francis said. “I’m not only grateful, I’m humbled.”
Florida Bulldog reported on June 19 that Francis has been the subject of ethics complaints to the Judicial Qualifications Commission but did not disclose them on her Supreme Court application. She has been accused by multiple litigants of trampling on their due process rights and disfavoring pro se parties who do not have lawyers to speak for them.
At every opportunity, including on Friday, Judge Renatha Francis professes her philosophical kinship with the arch-conservative Federalist Society. She spoke of “respecting and observing the limited role that judges play,” one of their favorite concepts.
On Aug. 1, Florida Bulldog reported an allegation that Francis’ husband Phillip Fender picked up and inspected a stranger’s baby at a condo pool pavilion in West Palm Beach on July 4. Then Francis accused the baby’s mother of neglect and reported her to state authorities and the sheriff’s office in Polk County. Both launched continuing investigations that have not resulted in charges.
The courthouse crowd that gathered to hear DeSantis’ announcement gave him a standing ovation. But others who weren’t there expressed disappointment.
“It’s sad for the people of Florida that a judge who reportedly lied has been promoted to the highest court in Florida,” said Margherita Downey, the attorney for Angela Bentrim and other family court litigants who claim Francis has mishandled their cases.
ORGANIZING TO REMOVE FRANCIS AS A JUDGE
Francis dropped Bentrim’s case soon after Downey filed a petition in the Supreme Court that could have put the justices in the position of reviewing the work of their future colleague. They kicked the petition to a lower court without reviewing it.
Downey has been organizing an effort to petition DeSantis to remove Francis as a judge because of her failure to acknowledge ethics complaints on her Supreme Court application. As of Friday volunteers had collected 122 signatures,
Rep. Geraldine Thompson, D-Orlando, said, “Floridians lack confidence in the courts because they see that people are being appointed based on political agency rather than knowledge of the law and fairness. It’s disturbing.”
Thompson said DeSantis “shows that he does not respect the law or feel that it applies to him. He has received very little pushback and therefore continues to act in a very authoritarian manner.”
The state legislator filed the lawsuit in 2020 that forced DeSantis to drop his first Francis appointment and name Justice Jamie Grosshans instead.
He showed on Friday that he hasn’t forgotten. DeSantis didn’t mention Thompson by name, but referred to her as “someone” who filed “an eleventh-hour lawsuit” to thwart his first effort to put Francis on the Supreme Court. “It was all politics, it wasn’t anything that was based on principle.”
‘RACIAL PANDERING’?
Thompson, who is black, has called DeSantis’ choice of Judge Renatha Francis “racial pandering.” She protested that he could have promoted one of a crowd of far better qualified black lawyers if he wasn’t determined to continue elevating Federalist Society-approved candidates.
James Uthmeier, DeSantis’s general counsel and chief of staff, did not respond to an email asking about the Francis appointment. Uthmeier “directs” Florida’s judicial nominations process, according to his biography on the Federalist Society’s website.
“It’s unfortunate that the judicial nominating process has regressed to its roots in political patronage instead of objective merit-selection, which it maintained for 30 years,” said Supreme Court historian Neil Skene. “Appointees no longer bring with them a presumption of their merit as lawyers and judges outside of political compatibility with the governor who appointed them.”
One minority lawyer who was perhaps Francis’s most ardent supporter in 2020 didn’t stump for her second appointment.
Eugene Pettis, the first black president of the Florida Bar, served as Francis’ spokesman in 2020, when she was on maternity leave. He said at the time she was “uniquely qualified” and stood out from six other “outstanding” African-American trial court judges who had applied for the Supreme Court opening.
Only one of the other six black applicants from 2020 tried again this time. Francis was the only black applicant on the short list of six that the Judicial Nominating Commission gave DeSantis in June.
On Friday Pettis did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
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