Ron DeSantis picks five judges, two in Jacksonville

gavel-courtroom
Some previously were Gov's county court choices.

The Governor’s Office rolled out a list of five judicial appointees Friday, with two being new faces in Northeast Florida’s 4th Circuit.

Gilbert Feltel and Judge Anthony Salem were appointed to the Fourth Circuit Court, replacing retired Judges Greg McCaulie and Linda McCallum.

Both are known commodities in Northeast Florida.

Feltel. a member of the Federalist Society and former Assistant State Attorney, has been JAXPORT’s chief legal officer since 2017.

The Florida Phoenix noted a long career within corporate general counsel offices — at CSX and at the Jacksonville commercial litigation firm Tanner Bishop, before joining JAXPORT three years ago.

Salem, also a former Assistant State Attorney and a member of the Federalist Society, had been appointed in 2019 to the Duval County Court by the Governor.

The other appointees: Judge Michael Davis to the Seventeenth Circuit Court; Judge Anthony Miller to the Second Circuit Court; and Judge Zachary James to the Eleventh Circuit Court.

Davis, of Hollywood, is currently on the Broward County Court. Prior to that, he was Senior Assistant Attorney General in the Office of the Attorney General.

He replaces a rising star: Judge Raag Singhal, appointed to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Miller currently is a judge on the Leon County Court, having been appointed to that position by the Governor in 2019.

The Florida State University law graduate and former General Counsel for the Agency for State Technology replaces retiring Judge Martin Fitzpatrick. 

Worth noting: in 2019, Judge Miller threw a pizza party after being appointed county judge.

James, of Miami, likewise was appointed in 2019 to be Judge of Miami-Dade County Court. He had been a commercial litigator and Assistant State Attorney prior to that.

He will replace Judge Jacqueline Scola.

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has written for FloridaPolitics.com since 2014. He is based in Northeast Florida. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski


One comment

  • Amy Roberts

    April 3, 2020 at 9:49 pm

    Are they commodities as in assets or in they can be bought and sold? I might not have thought about it except for them being members of the Federalist Society. I’m surprised the Governor has time to slide these appointments in, when in my humble opinion he needs to focus on Covid-19 response, and ALL that has come with it, especially because lives are literally at stake.

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