Voters don’t pick Florida Supreme Court and appellate judges, but they can fire them through a nonpartisan “merit retention vote” in the November general election. Lower-level county court and circuit judges are elected by voters, with runoffs during the November election between the top two vote-getters from the nonpartisan August judicial primaries.
Candidates are listed alphabetically, and the information shared in “Key Rulings” is based on high-profile news coverage in cases involving that judge. The Florida Bar approval rating is from an August poll of its members. We included the results from attorneys who said they had “considerable knowledge” of the judge in question.
VOTER GUIDE: What you need to know ahead of Florida's elections
Appointed judges
For appointed judges, the ballot will ask a yes or no question: Do you want the judge to be retained in office? Since the mid-70s, Florida Supreme Court and appellate judges have been appointed to six-year terms by the governor.
Judges have to go before a public “merit retention vote” within the first two years of appointment — and again at the end of their term, if a judge wants to remain in the seat. If most voters say yes, they can stay in place. If most voters say no, the governor has to appoint a replacement (it would also be the first time; no Florida judge has ever lost a retention vote.)
Florida Supreme Court
Charles Canady
Appointment: Justice Charles Canady was appointed in 2008 by former Gov. Charlie Crist (then a Republican, he is currently the Democratic candidate for governor).
Key rulings: Canady was a frequent conservative dissenter when the court had a more liberal-leaning majority, including in a 2016 ruling that blocked a 24-hour waiting period to get an abortion. He was also one of two dissenters to the court’s decision upholding a requirement for a unanimous jury for the death sentence in 2016. Later that year, he appeared on former President Trump’s list of potential Supreme Court candidates.
Florida Bar poll: 69% retain, 31% not retain
John Couriel
Appointment: Justice John Couriel was appointed in 2020 by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).
Key rulings: A key DeSantis pick in cementing the Supreme Court’s current conservative-leaning majority, Couriel has agreed with rulings that could make it harder for people to sue tobacco companies for smoking-related disease and kept a challenge to DeSantis’ redistricting in the lower courts.
Florida Bar poll: 62% retain, 38% not retain
Jamie Grosshans
Appointment: Justice Jamie Grosshans was appointed in 2020 by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).
Key rulings: Since joining the bench, Grosshans has largely sided with the conservative majority, including rejecting a challenge to charter schools’ getting voter-approved tax funds and a challenge to DeSantis-drawn redistricting maps. Though an infrequent dissenter, she did join Justices Labarga and Lawson in opposing a ruling that sided with the Florida Bar and admonished a traffic ticket clinic.
Florida Bar poll: 55% retain, 45% not retain
Jorge Labarga
Appointment: Justice Jorge Labarga was appointed in 2008 by former Gov. Charlie Crist (then a Republican, currently the Democratic candidate for governor).
Key rulings: The most moderate justice currently sitting on the conservative bench, Labarga was the only dissenter in a 2020 decision that blocked a new, broader intellectual disability standard from back-applying to an 1980s death row case. Larbarga said the ruling results in “an increased risk that certain individuals may be executed.” He was also the only dissenter in a Supreme Court decision to stay out of a lower court challenge of DeSantis’ redistricting plan.
Florida Bar poll: 87% retain, 13% not retain
Ricky Polston
Appointment: Justice Ricky Polston was appointed in 2008 by former Gov. Charlie Crist (then a Republican, currently the Democratic candidate for governor).
Key rulings: Conservative-leaning Polston opposed a majority ruling that blocked a 24-hour abortion waiting period law from going into effect while it was being litigated in 2017. Polston was also the only dissenter in a ruling to create a sixth appellate court, which the other judges said was necessary to compensate for underrepresentation of appellate judges from Jacksonville.
Florida Bar poll: 72% retain, 28% not retain
First District Court of Appeal
Covers more than 30 North Florida counties, including Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau and Union
Ross Bilbrey
Appointment: Judge Ross Bilbrey was appointed in 2015 by former Gov. Rick Scott (R).
Key rulings: In recent years, Bilbrey has chided the Florida Department of Health and DeSantis administration for dragging its feet in issuing cannabis licenses and upheld the removal of a Confederate monument in Madison, Florida. He also upheld the Gainesville Chamber of Commerce’s tax-exempt status.
Florida Bar poll: 74% retain, 26% not retain
Susan Kelsey
Appointment: Judge Susan Kelsey was appointed in 2015 by former Gov. Rick Scott (R).
Key rulings: In recent rulings, Kelsey disagreed with allowing Florida’s abortion ban to remain in effect while it was being challenged, handed a win to the National Rifle Association in upholding a 2011 state law that punishes local governments who pass stricter gun laws and rejected a transgender woman’s allegations of discrimation (Bilbrey dissented that ruling).
Florida Bar poll: 73% retain, 27% not retain
Bobby Long
Appointment: Judge Bobby Long was appointed in 2020 by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).
Key rulings: Judge Long upheld that a family couldn’t force Mayo Clinic to administer ivermectin to a Duval COVID-19 patient, said Duval Schools’ mask mandates “cannot stand between parents and their lawful right to make decisions on behalf of their children” and sided with a police union in allowing Tallahassee officers who say they were victims in a police shooting to shield their identities from the public under Marsy’s Law. Long was also on DeSantis’ list of finalists for the Florida Supreme Court this summer.
Florida Bar poll: 69% retain, 31% not retain
Bo Winokur
Appointment: Judge Bo Winokur was appointed in 2015 by former Gov. Rick Scott (R).
Key rulings: In recent years, Winokur upheld a ruling requiring a 17-year-old to have parental consent to get an abortion, tossed out a verdict against a tobacco company and sided with life insurance companies in a dissent opposing applying new regulations retroactively.
Lori Rowe
Florida Bar poll: 65% retain, 35% not retain
Appointment: Judge Lori Rowe was appointed in 2009 by former Gov. Charlie Crist (then a Republican, currently the Democratic candidate for governor).
Key rulings: Rowe sided with JEA in a challenge to a change in reimbursements for customers with solar panels, upheld a 7.5-year limit to workers’ compensation claims and upheld the state’s order that schools offer in-person teaching in 2020.
Florida Bar poll: 73% retain, 27% not retain
Second District Court of Appeal
These courts are located in west central and southwest Florida and include: Pinellas, Pasco, Polk, Highlands, Hardee Manatee, Sarasota, DeSoto, Hillsborough, Charlotte, Lee, Collier, Hendry and Glades counties.
Robert J. Morris Jr.
Appointment: Judge Robert J. Morris was appointed in 2009 by former Gov. Charlie Crist (R) (then a Republican, currently the Democratic candidate for governor).
Key rulings: A recent case Morris ruled on involved the city of North Port and a citizen group effort to remove more than 8,000 acres of land from the city’s limits. In October, 2022, Morris was one of several judges who said a lower circuit court applied the law correctly when it ordered the city council to reconsider the citizen group request.
Florida Bar poll: 86% retain, 14% not retain
John K. Stargel
Appointment: Judge John K. Stargel was appointed in 2020 by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Key rulings: In the past few years, the 2nd District Court of Appeal heard several cases about abortion and parental consent. Stargel’s most recent high-profile case involved his lengthy dissent of his fellow appellate judges in January 2022. It involved a 17-year-old high school student who asked to have an abortion without getting approval from her parents. Stargel supported the circuit judge’s ability to rule that the girl was not mature enough to make a decision regarding the pregnancy.
Florida Bar poll: 66% retain, 34% not retain
Patricia Kelly
Appointment: Judge Patricia J. Kelly was appointed in 2001 by former governor Jeb Bush (R.)
Key rulings: There is little news coverage in the past six years involving rulings made by Kelly.
Florida Bar poll: 80% retain, 20% not retain
Suzanne Labrit
Appointment: Judge Suzanne Labrit was appointed in 2020 by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).
Key rulings: In June 2022, Labrit was one of three judges who refused to dismiss a potential class-action lawsuit against the University of South Florida. This case was filed over on-campus services offered early in the COVID-19 pandemic. The court said the student suing had a legal, binding contract with USF, and that the university could not claim sovereign immunity. In December 2021, Labrit also was one of three judges who rejected a self-defense claim by a Pinellas County man convicted of manslaughter that attracted national media attention.
Florida Bar poll: 76% retain, 24% not retain
Nelly Khouzam
Appointment: Judge Nelly Khouzam was appointed in 2008 by former Gov. Charlie Crist (R) (then a Republican, currently the Democratic candidate for governor).
Key rulings: A recent case Khouzam ruled on involved the city of North Port and a citizen group effort to remove more than 8,000 acres of land from the city’s limits. In October, 2022, Khouzam wrote the unanimous decision that said a lower circuit court applied the law correctly when it ordered the city council to reconsider the citizen group request. In November 2021, Khouzam was among judges who ruled that Tampa Electric Co. is shielded from lawsuits by two workers injured in a 2017 accident at a power plant. The decision overturned a lower court ruling.
Florida Bar poll: 90% retain, 10% not retain
Stevan Northcutt
Appointment: Judge Stevan Northcutt was appointed in 1997 by former Gov. Lawton Chiles (D).
Key rulings: In December 2021, Northcutt was one of three judges who rejected a self-defense claim by a Pinellas County man convicted of manslaughter. The court upheld the conviction and prison sentence of the man who shot and killed Clearwater resident Markeis McGlockton in a convenience store parking lot.
Florida Bar poll: 89% retain, 11% not retain
Craig Villanti
Appointment: Judge Craig Villanti was appointed in 2003 by former Gov. Jeb Bush (R).
Key rulings: In the past few years, the 2nd District Court of Appeal heard several cases about abortion and parental consent. Villanti wrote the March 2021 ruling that approved a waiver for a 16-year-old Polk County girl who was seeking to have an abortion without her parents being notified. In June 2022, Vallenti was one of the judges who refused to dismiss a potential class-action lawsuit against the University of South Florida. This case was filed over on-campus services offered early in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Florida Bar poll: 84% retain, 16% not retain
Matthew C. Lucas
Appointment: Judge Matthew C. Lucas was appointed in 2014 by former Gov. Rick Scott (R).
Key rulings: Lucas was among the judges in June 2021 refusing to halt a decade-long legal fight that argues Sarasota County is required to reimburse private hospitals for providing care to indigent patients. The county was arguing it should be shielded by sovereign immunity. In March 2021, Lucas wrote a ruling that reinstated a verdict that requires the Polk County School Board to pay $125,000 to a former high-school football player who alleged he was abused by a coach. While a jury awarded in favor of the plaintiff, the case’s judge ordered a new trial. Lucas’ ruling determined the local judge used an erroneous legal standard when ordering the new trial.
Florida Bar poll: 81% retain, 19% not retain
Fifth District Court of Appeal
Covers more than a dozen Northeast and Central Florida counties, including Flagler, Putnam and St. Johns
Jay Cohen
Appointment: Judge Jay Cohen was appointed in 2008 by former Gov. Charlie Crist (then a Republican, currently the Democratic candidate for governor).
Key rulings: Cohen sided with Wal-Mart in a union trespassing dispute in 2016, ruled in favor of Planned Parenthood to use a covenant-restricted Orlando-area property in 2014 and ruled last year that security footage on buses are exempt from public records.
Florida Bar poll: 82% retain, 18% not retain
James Edwards
Appointment: Judge James Edwards was appointed in 2014 by former Gov. Rick Scott (R).
Key rulings: Edwards has ruled that state and local officials don’t have to pay damages to bars they forced to close during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, dissented to overturning a lifetime pet-ownership ban for a Volusia County man who had been arrested for killing a dog, and struck down a drug sentence handed down by a St. Augustine judge with a reputation for refusing plea deals in opioid cases.
Florida Bar poll: 76% retain, 24% not retain
Brian Lambert
Appointment: Chief Judge Brian Lambert was appointed in 2014 by former Gov. Rick Scott (R).
Key rulings: Lambert dissented to a ruling (handed down by Edwards and Cohen) that sided with a tobacco company. He also sided with the ruling in Wal-Mart’s favor in the union fight and favored an online news site in a public records battle with Citrus County in 2016.
Florida Bar poll: 76% retain, 24% not retain
Mary Nardella
Appointment: Judge Mary Nardella was appointed in 2021 by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).
Key rulings: DeSantis came under criticism for his choice of Federalist Society (a libertarian and conservative legal organization) member Mary Nardella last year, due to her limited trial experience. In her time on the appeals court, she has sided with a decision that ruled Orange County’s human rights ordinance unconstitutional and in conflict with state law, and called for a new murder trial for a defendent whose request to represent himself was denied.
Florida Bar poll: 64% retain, 36% not retain
Dan Traver
Appointment: Judge Dan Traver was appointed in 2019 by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).
Key rulings: Traver sided with a teacher after a school district tried to bar him from keeping a gun in his car on campus, ruled against an insurance company that tried to deny a third-party claim after Hurricane Irma, and sided with overturning a sentence handed down by the St. Augustine judge reputed for refusing plea deals in opioid cases.
Florida Bar poll: 77% retain, 23% not retain
Carrie Ann Wozniak
Appointment: Judge Carrie Ann Wozniak was appointed in 2021 by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).
Key rulings: Wozniak is an active Federalist Society member. Rulings include one in favor of homeowners for additional Hurricane Matthew damage claims. She also signed off on the ruling that part of Orange County’s human rights ordinance was unconstitutional.
Florida Bar poll: 72% retain, 28% not retain
Jacksonville Today contributed to this story.
