Ex-Tampa judge ousted after abortion ruling is Florida Supreme Court contender
ared Smith, the former Hillsborough County judge who was ousted by voters last year after a controversial ruling in an abortion case, is vying to be a justice on the Florida Supreme Court, according to a nominating commission that will review applicants and make recommendations to Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission announced Tuesday that it will interview Smith, now an appellate court judge, and 14 other candidates on May 3. Also on the interview list is 6th District Court of Appeal Chief Judge Meredith Sasso and John Stargel, another appellate court judge. Stargel is a former state lawmaker and the husband of former state Sen. Kelli Stargel.
The hopefuls are jockeying to replace Justice Ricky Polston, who announced in March he was stepping down — giving DeSantis yet another vacancy to fill as he reshapes the state’s highest court.
Smith lost his county judicial seat in the August 2022 election after an unusually contentious race in which abortion was a key issue. The controversy stemmed from a case in which Smith denied a 17-year-old girl’s judicial waiver to get an abortion without her parents’ consent, concluding that she did not demonstrate the maturity, intelligence and other qualities necessary to make the decision. An appeals court overturned Smith’s decision, saying that he abused his judicial discretion.
But Smith wasn’t off the bench for long. In December, Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Smith to the newly created 6th District Court of Appeal, based in Lakeland.
https://www.tampabay.com/news/breaking-news/2023/04/18/jared-smith-desantis-abortion-florida-supreme-court-tampa-hillsborough/
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Batista grandson is first Hispanic named to Florida Supreme Court
By: admin July 10, 2002
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush yesterday named a grandson of former Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista as the first Hispanic on the Florida Supreme Court. Raoul Cantero III, a Miami attorney and Harvard Law School graduate, replaces Justice Major Harding, who is retiring after 11 years. “I have named a person who is the of the finest appellate lawyers in the state,” Bush said. “Above all else, Raoul is a man of exceptional character.” Cantero, 41, was born in Spain to parents who had fled Cuba after his mother’s father, Batista, was overthrown by Fidel Castro in 1959. In his application, Cantero wrote that his heritage would benefit the court. “As an American whose family escaped a totalitarian (Castro) regime, I have learned to appreciate and defend democratic values and the rule of law,” Cantero wrote. “I know the price a society pays when it lacks freedom to speak, freedom to worship, freedom to dissent.” Cantero’s candidacy attracted some controversy because he helped defend Orlando Bosch, an anti-Castro extremist who was labeled a terrorist by the U.S. government for his purported ties to bombing raids on Cuba. “Everybody has a right to an attorney and I have no problems that he was on the team,” Bush said. Cantero also defended his representation of Bosch, evoking John Adams, who represented the British soldiers accused in the Boston Massacre. “Any lawyer who’s ashamed of who he’s represented should consider another line of work,” Cantero said. It was Bush’s first solo appointment to the seven-member court. In late 1998, after his election but before he took office, Bush and the late Gov. Lawton Chiles jointly appointed Justice Peggy Quince to the court. Bush, who is running for re-election this fall, said the appointment “proves that service on our state’s highest court is open to men and women of excellence of all backgrounds.” The appointment, which takes effect in September, does not require approval of the Legislature. Cantero was the only finalist who was not a judge and will be one of the youngest justices in state history. The others finalists recommended by the Judicial Nominating Commission were 2nd District Court of Appeal Judge Chris Altenbernd; Circuit Judge Kenneth Bell; and 1st District Court of Appeal judges Philip Padovano and Peter Webster.
https://thedailyrecord.com/2002/07/10/batista-grandson-is-first-hispanic-named-to-florida-supreme-court/
Jeb Bush's Supreme Court appointment
Cantaro's grandpops, violent, corrupt Fulgencio Batista
Batista and former President Eisenhower.
