Most Americans are able to name a U.S. Supreme Court Justice and even go as far to name who appointed them or one or two major topics they've decided on.
However, many Floridians are probably not able to name those making decisions on their state's highest court -- which gathered Wednesday to hear arguments on the hot topic of abortion.
Justices will consider whether to approve the wording of a proposed constitutional amendment aimed at enshrining abortion rights in the state´s Constitution. If justices sign off, the proposal will go on the November ballot — and possibly touch off the state’s biggest political fight of the year.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has notably had a hand in how the Florida Supreme Court looks in 2024 - by appointing most of the justices.
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New Justices face their first merit retention vote in the next general election that occurs more than one year after their appointment, according to the Florida Supreme Court. And if retained, each Justice serves a six-year term beginning in early January following the first merit retention election.
NBC6 is taking a look at the faces behind the Sunshine State's highest court, exactly how they got to that position and notable stances they've taken in the past.
Much of this information can be found on the Florida Supreme Court website.
Chief Justice Carlos G. Muñiz
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Chief Justice Carlos Muñiz was appointed to the Florida Supreme Court by DeSantis in 2019.
He grew up in both Northern Virginia as well as Washington DC, before going on to study at the University of Virginia and Yale Law School.
Ahead of his appointment to the Florida Supreme Court, Muñiz served on the staff of Secretary Betsy DeVos as the presidentially-appointed, Senate-confirmed general counsel of the U.S. Department of Education.
Before that, he was deputy attorney general and chief of staff to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, deputy chief of staff and counsel in the Office of the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives as well as deputy general counsel to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
In September 2023, justices heard arguments in a constitutional challenge to a 2022 state law that prevented abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. At one point, he said that the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision “might have been an abomination” and referred to fetuses as "human beings."
However, Muñiz notably wrote a 2004 article in the Journal of the James Madison Institute, saying that the privacy clause was meant to uphold the right to an abortion.
"One purpose of the privacy amendment clearly was to give the abortion right a textual foundation in our state constitution,” he stated.
Muñiz faces a merit retention vote in 2026.
Justice Charles Canady
Justice Charles Canady is from Lakeland, and studied at Haverford College as well as Yale Law School.
From 1984 to 1990, Justice Canady served three terms in the Florida House of Representatives as a Republican, and from 1993 to 2001, he served four terms in the United States House of Representatives - and was a member of the House Judiciary Committee.
He became General Counsel to Gov. Jeb Bush after leaving Congress, and was later appointed by Bush to the Second District Court of Appeal for a term, beginning in November of 2002.
On the topic of abortion, Canady's wife, state Rep. Jennifer Canady, notably co-sponsored the state's six-week abortion bill that passed in the 2023 legislative session.
Canady faces a merit retention vote in 2028.
Justice Jorge Labarga
Justice Jorge Labarga is the longest serving member on the state's current high court, appointed back in 2009 by then-Gov. Charlie Crist.
Labarga was born in Havana, Cuba before his family fled to freedom in the Sunshine State when he was still a child.
In 2014, he became the first Cuban American to serve as Florida’s Chief Justice. He held that office for two terms until June 2018, the first chief justice to serve consecutive terms in a century, according to the Florida Supreme Court.
Labarga spent 11 years managing the Supreme Court’s judicial education program for new judges, according to The Florida Bar.
He faces a merit retention vote in 2028.
Justice John D. Couriel
John D. Couriel, a Miami native, was appointed by DeSantis in 2020, becoming the 90th Justice of the Florida Supreme Court.
His parents emigrated from Cuba in the 1960s, his father as one of approximately 14,000 unaccompanied minors welcomed to the United States as part of Operation Pedro Pan, according to the Florida Supreme Court website.
Couriel graduated from Harvard College in 2000 and Harvard Law School in 2003.
He faces a merit retention vote in 2028.
Justice Jamie R. Grosshans
Justice Jamie R. Grosshans was appointed to Florida's Supreme Court in 2020 by DeSantis.
She graduated from the University of Mississippi School of Law.
In 2018, Grosshans was appointed to the Fifth District Court of Appeal by then-Gov. Rick Scott and before that, she served as an Orange County Court Judge in the Ninth Judicial Circuit of Florida, where she presided over criminal and civil matters.
She had also founded her own law firm where she focused on family law and criminal defense matters for nearly ten years.
Grosshans had previously done legal work for an anti-abortion group.
She faces a merit retention vote in 2028.
Justice Renatha Francis
Justice Renatha Francis is the first Jamaican-American to serve on the Florida Supreme Court, appointed by DeSantis in 2022.
Previously, DeSantis appointed her to the 15th Judicial Circuit Court in Palm Beach County, where she successfully retained her seat for a six-year term in 2022.
Justice Francis also served on the Circuit and County Courts in the 11th Judicial Circuit of Miami-Dade from 2017-19 by appointment to each by then-Gov. Rick Scott -- in which she reportedly presided over large dockets, conducted numerous bench trials, and resolved hundreds of cases in family, civil, probate, and criminal law, according to the Florida Supreme Court.
She faces a merit retention vote in 2024.
Justice Meredith Sasso
Justice Meredith Sasso is the newest Florida Supreme Court Justice, appointed by DeSantis in 2023.
She received both her undergraduate degree and law degree from the University of Florida, where she was a member of the Justice Campbell Thornal Moot Court Board.
She began her career in private practice, representing clients in large loss general liability, auto negligence, and complex commercial claims in state and federal courts at trial and on appeal. She also served as guardian ad litem, representing abused or neglected children, according to the Florida Supreme Court website.
Sasso also faces a merit retention vote in 2024.
