Florida Supreme Court

The Florida Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by a Death Row inmate convicted in the 2010 murder of a Florida State University graduate student whose body was found in St. Johns County.

Two years after justices thwarted his first attempt to place Renatha Francis on the Florida Supreme Court, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday tapped the Palm Beach County circuit judge to serve on a high court dominated by conservative jurists.

Governor Ron DeSantis has until Monday to appoint a new justice to the Florida Supreme Court. It’s a blow for the Governor, who has been defending his appointment of Renatha Francis. But Francis has not been a member of the Florida Bar for 10 years—a job requirement. The case has racial overtones and has seen DeSantis attempting to pit Black Democrats against each other over the pick after Democratic Rep. Geraldine Thompson sued.

Saying Gov. Ron DeSantis “has not complied with the Constitution’s clear commands,” the Florida Supreme Court on Friday rejected DeSantis’ appointment of Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Renatha Francis to the Supreme Court.

Striking a blow to Gov. Ron DeSantis, a unanimous Florida Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed a state representative to move ahead with a revised challenge to the governor’s appointment of Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Renatha Francis to the state’s high court.

Attorneys for Gov. Ron DeSantis are trying to scuttle a lawmaker’s renewed challenge to DeSantis’ appointment of Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Renatha Francis to the Florida Supreme Court.

The Florida Supreme Court has ruled that Gov. Ron DeSantis should not have appointed Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Renatha Francis to a vacancy on the state’s high court because she hasn’t been a member of the Florida Bar for at least 10 years. But the court says there’s nothing they can do about it.

The state Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to take up appeals by a former Florida State University fraternity president and two other fraternity members, clearing the way for them to face felony hazing charges in the 2017 death of a pledge who drank heavily at an off-campus party.

A panel that nominates potential members of the Florida Supreme Court on Monday defended its choice to include Renatha Francis, one of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ latest picks to serve as a justice, on a list of nine nominees sent to the governor in January. State Rep. Geraldine Thompson, D-Windermere, filed a lawsuit last month alleging that Francis, a Palm Beach County circuit judge, is unqualified to serve on the Supreme Court.

The Republican-led, law-and-order Legislature refused to hire 35 new judges requested earlier this year by the Florida Supreme Court. The new hires would…