In less than a month, only one of three federal judges who preside over cases at the Paul G. Rogers Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in West Palm Beach will be left.
U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg stepped down this month to accept a job directing the Federal Judicial Center in Washington, the research and educational arm of the federal court system.
After spending eight years as a senior judge, longtime U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra will retire on Sept. 19, although he said he has a few cases he plans to finish up.
That means only 78-year-old U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks, who was appointed to the bench in 1997 by President Bill Clinton, will remain at the courthouse on Clematis Street.
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U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon was appointed in 2020 to replace Marra after he took semi-retirement as a senior judge.
But Rosenberg’s departure means President Donald Trump will have another chance to influence the makeup of the court that metes out justice in nine counties from Key West to Fort Pierce.
The president’s imprint on the court
Already, the two-term GOP president has named five of the 17 active judges in the district. After the Senate confirms whoever Trump picks to replace Rosenberg, Trump will have named 35% of the active judges, not including the 12 who are on senior status.
When Rosenberg is replaced, the partisan makeup of the court will flip. Nine of the judges will have been appointed by Republicans and eight by Democrats.
Clinton also appointed six judges, four of whom are on senior status. President Barack Obama appointed five, including Rosenberg and one who is on senior status. President Joe Biden appointed three. All three of the former presidents are Democrats.
The three other active judges were appointed by Republican President George W. Bush or his father George H.W. Bush.
That Trump is poised to make another pick worries some who have watched his recent judicial appointments.
“If you thought the judges he nominated in his first term were unqualified, in the second term, they’re Bozos,” said Robert Jarvis, a law professor at Nova Southeastern University and a Democrat. “He’s taking them off the clown cart and making them judges.”
That Trump is poised to make another pick worries some who have watched his recent judicial appointments.
“If you thought the judges he nominated in his first term were unqualified, in the second term, they’re Bozos,” said Robert Jarvis, a law professor at Nova Southeastern University and a Democrat. “He’s taking them off the clown cart and making them judges.”
Cannon herself endured withering criticism over her handling of the civil and criminal classified document cases involving Trump, who appointed her.
She was rebuked twice by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals for her rulings that favored Trump, who was accused of illegally stashing classified documents at Mar-a-Lago after he left office in 2021.
While Cannon was roundly criticized by legal scholars and the media as brazenly biased, Trump called her “the absolute model of what a judge should be … strong and tough.”
Unlike many of his counterparts, Jarvis excuses Cannon, writing off the 44-year-old former prosecutor’s rulings as the product of a young and inexperienced judge, who was stuck alone in Fort Pierce with no seasoned jurist to guide her.
But, he said, he shudders at who could be named to replace Rosenberg, who herself was in the national limelight in July when she refused to unseal transcripts from 2005 and 2007 grand jury investigations into sex-trafficking allegations against Jeffrey Epstein.
In Trump’s first term, he made sure that all of his appointees were members of the Federalist Society, a conservative legal group that favors judicial restraint, Jarvis said.
“Now, it’s, ‘Are you loyal to Donald Trump and will you do whatever Donald Trump needs you to do?’” he said.
Defense attorney Gregg Lerman said he has similar concerns. “He has been appointing judges who have curried favor with him or worked for him,” said Lerman, a Democrat.
Federal judges are appointed for life and they should be selected carefully based on their qualifications. “The federal bench was always the best of the best,” Lerman said.
Appointment alarms some court watchers
Like others, Jarvis referred to the recent appointment of Trump’s criminal lawyer, Emil Bove, to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia. Bove, whom Trump named to a top spot in the Justice Department, was accused by whistleblowers of encouraging the administration to ignore court orders, along with other ethical lapses.
His nomination created a firestorm. Some 80 former federal and state judges, including prominent conservatives, and more than 900 former Justice Department lawyers, from both Republican and Democratic administrations, signed letters opposing Bove’s appointment.
But, others have said that Bove was an outlier, not an exemplar.
Before Attorney General Pam Bondi in May stripped the American Bar Association of its longtime role in vetting judicial candidates, it had largely supported Trump’s picks.
Of the eight it evaluated this year, six were rated “well-qualified,” two were rated “qualified,” and none was rated “not qualified.” It didn’t rate Bove because he didn’t participate in the ABA’s review process. Trump has made about 20 judicial appointments.
Michael Fragoso, who served as chief counsel to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, told a CNN legal analyst last week that despite all the hand-wringing about Bove, little has changed. Federalist Society members and mainstream conservatives remain Trump’s top choices.
“For all the talk of how it’s a different kind of judge this time, it’s the same pool of people they’re pulling from,” Fragoso told CNN. “It’s the same apple cart, just slightly different apples.”
Who will be named to replace Rosenberg is unknown. The process will take months.
In the meantime, cases will continue to be divided equally among the judges throughout the district, said Angela Noble, court administrator and clerk.
Most of those filed in West Palm Beach will be assigned to Middlebrooks, but cases will also be assigned to Cannon in Fort Pierce or judges in Fort Lauderdale, she said. Some could end up in Miami.
Marra and Rosenberg’s roots in Palm Beach County
Lawyers said the almost simultaneous departures of Rosenberg and Marra are a loss to the judicial system. Both began their careers as Palm Beach County circuit court judges.
Marra, who was appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush, presided over countless high-profile trials during his 23-year career on the federal bench. In 2019, he ruled that federal prosecutors violated the Crime Victims’ Rights Act by not divulging a secret plea deal that let Epstein avoid serious punishment for sexually abusing young women. When Epstein died, the case did, too.
Rosenberg, who is married to former Palm Beach County State Attorney Michael McAuliffe, in 2022 wrote a 337-page opinion dismissing an estimated 2,500 lawsuits from across the country, claiming the over-the-counter heartburn medicine, Zantac, caused cancer. An appeal of her ruling is still pending.
While she is leaving the courtroom, she remains a judge and could return to the bench, Noble said. She took some pending cases with her. Marra also remains a judge and said he would help out if needed.
Marra and Rosenberg received top marks from lawyers who appeared before them.
“My dealings with Judge Rosenberg were nothing but pleasant. She worked hard,” Lerman said.
“But Judge Marra was one of my favorite judges,” Lerman continued. “He treated people, both lawyers and defendants, with respect. I never knew his political leanings. He followed the law and was extremely fair.”
This story was originally published by Stet News Palm Beach, a WLRN News partner.
