What to Know
- Speaking at the Freedom Tower in Downtown Miami on Wednesday, DeSantis selected Judge Barbara Lagoa as his choice to fill a vacancy.
In his first official day as the political leader of Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the first of three nominees to serve on the state’s Supreme Court.
Speaking at the Freedom Tower in Downtown Miami on Wednesday, DeSantis selected Judge Barbara Lagoa as his choice to fill a vacancy on the high court.
Lagoa, a Miami native who graduated from FIU and later Columbia University Law School, became the first Cuban-American to serve on the Third District Court of Appeal when she was appointed by then Gov. Jeb Bush in 2006. Before that, she served as an attorney in South Florida.
The 52-year-old is married to attorney Paul Huck Jr. and the couple has three children.
Lagoa is expected to be a part of the more conservative look the Supreme Court will have after DeSantis, who became the latest Republican elected Governor as the part has held the office since 1998, chooses three candidates to replace retiring justices Barbara Pariente, Fred Lewis and Peggy Quince.
Pariente and Lewis were selected by the state’s last Democratic governor, Lawton Chiles, while Quince was part of a joint agreement between Chiles and his successor, former Gov. Jeb Bush.
