Jim Rosica
Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Jorge Labarga has been released from the hospital after successful surgery for kidney cancer, a court spokesman said Tuesday.
He’s now resting at home, spokesman Craig Waters told FloridaPolitics.com, but “resting” isn’t the word we’d use.
Labarga “has been actively working using remote devices since last Thursday,” Waters said. “I have had quite a few emails from him in the last few days giving directions on Court business. He clearly is back in command.”
The 62-year-old had been diagnosed after a routine physical this year. Waters earlier said doctors found no sign the cancer had spread and predict a full recovery.
Labarga, the first chief justice of Hispanic descent, joined the court in 2009. He was sworn in as the state’s 56th chief justice last summer.
Gov. Lawton Chiles first appointed him to the Circuit Court in Palm Beach County in 1996. Labarga was one of several trial judges across the state involved in the 2000 presidential election challenge in Florida.
In December 2008, Gov. Charlie Crist tapped him for the 4th District Court of Appeal. The next month, Crist moved him to the Supreme Court.
