Predictably, Supreme Court Justice Carlos Muñiz and 22 district court of appeal judges were all retained in their positions aftermerit retention votes Tuesday.
No judge in Florida history has ever been removed from the bench through a merit retention vote.
With 57.72% of the vote, Muñiz easily cleared the 50% threshold to remain on the bench.
Muñiz was the only one of the seven state Supreme Court Justices to be on the ballot statewide Nov. 3. He was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2019 and previously served two consecutive terms as chief justice, elected by his peers in 2022 and 2024.
During his time as chief justice, Muñiz and the court upheld a congressional map eliminating a majority-Black district in North Florida, writing the court’s majority opinion that restoring the district would be racial gerrymandering that violates the Constitution. Justice Jorge Labarga, the only justice on the court not appointed by DeSantis, was the lone dissenter.
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In 2024, the court also allowed Florida’s 6-week abortion ban to go into effect, ruling the state’s constitutional right to privacy does not protect abortion rights. The court also allowed a constitutional amendment to go to voters to protect abortion access, but it failed to reach the 60 percent threshold to pass.
Of the 22 district court of appeal judges on the ballot for merit retention, also easily passed the 50 percent threshold, including Judge Bronwyn C. Miller, of the 3rd District Court of Appeal. The Miami judge was previously accused by the Judicial Qualifications Commission panel of attempting to influence the State Attorney’s Office handling a death penalty resentencing of a case she prosecuted in 2000. The JQC case before the Supreme Court is still open.
She was retained with more than 60 percent of the vote.
This article first appeared on The Florida Trib and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
