Ron DeSantis on Wednesday named Adam Tanenbaum, a judge on Florida’s First District Court of Appeal, to the Florida Supreme Court, filling a seat left open by the departure of Charles Canady. The appointment gives DeSantis his sixth pick for the seven-member court.
Tanenbaum announced the appointment in remarks at Seminole High School in the St. Petersburg area, where he said he had graduated. In his speech, Tanenbaum pledged to adhere to a legal approach known as “originalism,” and he framed his role as correcting what he characterized as judicial errors in how courts interpret legal text over time.
Tanenbaum argued that judges shouldn’t fear correcting an “erroneous interpretation of the text,” and he said “Sometimes the circumstances require boldness to restore our jurisprudence to its historical roots.” He also said he previously worked as general counsel for the Florida House of Representatives and served on the legal staff of other state agencies.
The seat Tanenbaum will occupy was previously held by Charles Canady, who left after 17 years on the Florida Supreme Court to take a job at the University of Florida. With Tanenbaum’s selection, DeSantis continued to reshape the state’s top court with another jurist aligned with conservative legal theory.
Ahead of naming Tanenbaum, DeSantis also urged the Florida Supreme Court to apply its administrative powers to the state’s legal profession. He cited a Texas Supreme Court decision that no longer requires Texas law schools to be accredited by the American Bar Association, and DeSantis said, “I think that there’s room, you know, to be really, really bold.”
Justices on the Florida Supreme Court can serve until they reach age 75, when they must retire. To keep their seats after appointment, justices face voters at retention elections held during the first general election more than a year after they are named, and then every six years after that.
Among the issues before the Florida Supreme Court this year are whether a proposed constitutional amendment legalizing recreational marijuana for adults can be placed on the fall ballot, and whether the statewide prosecutor’s office can pursue election crimes.