For the second time in little more than a month, Gov. Ron DeSantis faces a lawsuit alleging he violated the Florida Constitution by not filling a judicial seat. Gainesville attorney Gary Edinger on Friday filed a petition at the state Supreme Court seeking to force DeSantis to appoint a judge in North Florida’s 8th Judicial Circuit.
The case alleges that DeSantis did not comply with a constitutional requirement to make an appointment within 60 days of receiving a list of candidates from the 8th Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission. The commission sent a list of six nominees to DeSantis on June 4 to replace Circuit Judge Mark Moseley, who resigned in April.
Friday’s petition said that if DeSantis does not make an appointment by Aug. 18, his eventual pick for the seat would not have to appear on the election ballot until 2028. If the appointment is made by Aug. 18 — which is one year before the 2026 primary elections — the new judge would be on next year’s ballot, ACLU Foundation of Florida lawyers representing Edinger wrote in the petition.
The 8th Judicial Circuit is made up of Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Gilchrist, Levy and Union counties. “The governor’s failure leaves the court without a full complement of judges, burdens the people of Florida who rely on a fully functioning judiciary for the efficient administration of justice, and threatens to prevent the circuit’s voters from having the opportunity to vote on the governor’s appointee at the next election if he does not fill the vacancy by August 18, 2025 — 10 days from today,” the petition said.
A similar case was filed July 3 over a vacancy in the 2nd Judicial Circuit in the Tallahassee area. The case was dismissed July 14 after DeSantis appointed Judge Jason Jones.
–News Service of Florida
