Jorge Labarga

Jorge Labarga
Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court
In office
July 1, 2014 – June 30, 2018
Preceded by Ricky Polston
Succeeded by Charles T. Canady
Justice of the Florida Supreme Court
Assumed office
January 6, 2009
Appointed by Charlie Crist
Preceded by Harry Lee Anstead
Personal details
Born (1952-10-21) October 21, 1952
Havana, Cuba
Education University of Florida (BA, JD)
Website Court website

Jorge Labarga (born October 21, 1952) is a Justice of the Florida Supreme Court, taking office on January 6, 2009. On June 30, 2014, he was sworn in as Florida's 56th Chief Justice and the first Cuban-American to hold the post. He was succeeded on July 1, 2018, by Charles T. Canady.

Life

Labarga was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1952.

Education

Labarga grew up and graduated high school in Pahokee, Florida, in the heavily agricultural Lake Okeechobee region of western Palm Beach County, and received his Bachelor's degree from the University of Florida. He also received his Juris Doctor from this institution in 1979. After law school he became an Assistant Public Defender. In 1996, Governor Lawton Chiles appointed him a Circuit Court Judge.

Judicial career

Previously, he was a Judge for the 15th Circuit Court in Palm Beach County, Florida, from 1996 until 2009. He is notable as the judge who refused a new vote during the 2000 U.S. Presidential election on the grounds that the Constitution stated that an election must be held everywhere in the United States on the same day, not just in one area.

Prior to his Supreme Court appointment, Labarga had been appointed by Governor Charlie Crist to the Fourth District Court of Appeal for Florida, an intermediate appellate court based in West Palm Beach, Florida. He served in that position only a single day, January 5, 2009. His term on that court was cut short when Governor Crist quickly elevated Labarga to the Florida Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice Harry Lee Anstead. On June 30, 2014, Larbarga was sworn in as the 56th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Florida, replacing former Chief Justice Ricky Polston.[1] Labarga is the first person of Hispanic descent to lead the state of Florida's judicial branch.[2]

References

  1. ↑ "Chief Justice Jorge Labarga". Florida Supreme Court Website. Archived from the original on 2016-11-23. Retrieved 2016-11-16.
  2. ↑ Id.
Legal offices
Preceded by
Harry Lee Anstead		 Justice of the Florida Supreme Court
2009–present		 Incumbent
Preceded by
Ricky Polston		 Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court
2014–2018		 Succeeded by
Charles T. Canady
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