Gov. DeSantis appoints ousted judge who blocked teen’s abortion to new appeals district

Ron DeSantis. Image via AP.

Back in August, Hillsborough County voters gave Judge Jared Smith the heave-ho less than a year after he made headlines for denying a teen access to an abortion, citing her grades.

He’s set to leave the bench in less than two weeks. But by then, he’ll have an even better job, thanks to Gov. Ron DeSantis.

On Tuesday, DeSantis’ office released a list of three appointees to the new 6th District Court of Appeal. Smith, who has served on the 13th Judicial Circuit Court since the Governor appointed him there in September of 2019, was among them.

Smith ruled in January that an unnamed 17-year-old could not terminate her unwanted pregnancy. In his ruling, he questioned her “overall intelligence,” which he found to be less than average because “(while) she claimed that her grades were ‘Bs’ during her testimony, her GPA is currently 2.0. Clearly, a ‘B’ average would not equate to a 2.0 GPA.”

Florida law requires parental notification and consent for minors to obtain abortions. The teen asked the court to waive that requirement, which a Judge can do if it finds “clear and convincing evidence” the minor in question is “sufficiently mature.”

Smith decided she wasn’t. An appeals court later overturned Smith’s ruling.

But following subsequent outrage from progressive groups and the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June, Smith faced a reckoning at the ballot box. Voters decided by a 3.7-point margin that they preferred lawyer Nancy Jacobs — who had made two prior, but unsuccessful, runs for a judgeship — to serve on the bench instead of him.

That didn’t stop a nominating commission from including Smith’s name among 18 judicial recommendations for the newly created 6th District Court of Appeal.

Of those nominees, DeSantis selected Smith and Judges Joshua Mize and Keith White, both of the 9th Judicial Circuit.

DeSantis’ announcement of their appointments came less than a week after the Florida Supreme Court rejected a challenge, filed last month, over the eligibility of several appellate Judge candidates for the 5th and 6th districts.

Smith was among them, but not because of his judgment.

On Dec. 15, Justices tossed a complaint by Democratic Sen. Geraldine Thompson and Orlando lawyer Whitney Boan arguing two candidates for the 5th District and four for the 6th — including Smith — are ineligible because they live outside the districts’ jurisdictions.

Attorney General Ashley Moody disputed that assertion, contending that while Judges must live in their given district, they don’t have to meet that residency requirement until they are appointed.

The Supreme Court sided with Moody and the Governor less than 48 hours later. In a 13-page opinion, Chief Justice Carlos Muniz noted the Florida Constitution does not expressly prohibit the nomination of district non-residents.

“Given that the Constitution provides for a 60-day period between a Commission’s certification of nominations and the gubernatorial appointment deadline, and in the absence of clear textual direction to the contrary, we cannot say the Constitution imposes an ‘eligible at the time of nomination’ requirement,” he wrote. “Rather, we believe that the Constitution leaves to the commissions’ discretion whether to nominate only candidates who are residents at the time of nomination.”

Justice Renatha Francis, Ricky Polston, and Associate Justice Ivan Fernandez concurred fully with Muniz’s opinion. Justice Jorge Labarga concurred partially, writing that the Supreme Court should have weighed whether the Nominating Commissions for the appellate districts acted outside their rules in recommending nonresidents.

Justice Charles Canaday, John Couriel, and Jamie Grosshans recused themselves from the case due to potential conflicts of interest. Canaday and Couriel were references for three candidates. Grosshans, meanwhile, is married to a member of the Nominating Commission for the 6th District of Appeal.

The 6th District, based in Polk County, will hear cases from Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, Lee, Orange, Osceola and Polk counties, which the 9th, 10th and 20th judicial circuits cover. The district will have nine judges.

Mize, a Winter Park resident, has served on the 9th Judicial Circuit in Orange County since 2021, when DeSantis appointed him to the post. Prior to that, he owned Mize Law, which the Florida Division of Corporations lists as being voluntarily dissolved in July 2021, and as an associated attorney at several other law firms.

He earned his juris doctor from the University of Florida and is currently assigned to domestic relations, according to his bio with the 9th District.

White, of Maitland, has served on the 9th Judicial Circuit Court since early 2011. He previously owned and ran his own, eponymous law practice.

His bio says he earned his law degree from Florida State University and has ruled over domestic, criminal and civil cases.

On Friday, DeSantis’ office announced the appointment of four Judges to the redrawn 5th District Court of Appeal. Two of the appointees, Florida Gaming Control Commissioner John MacIver and 15th Judicial Circuit Judge Paige Kilbane, were flagged in Thompson and Boan’s lawsuit as living outside the district.

Smith, who lives in Lakeland and operates in Hillsborough County, according to the Governor’s office, has been a Judge on the 13th Judicial Circuit Court since DeSantis appointed him there in September of 2019. He previously worked as a county Judge and in private practice as a partner at the Orlando-headquartered law firm of RumbergerKirk, which was called Rumberger Kirk & Caldwell when he worked there.

He earned his juris doctor from the Washburn University of Law in 2000, according to his biography with the 13th Judicial Circuit, which lists his current and past assignments as domestic violence, criminal and family court.