STEPPING UP: Caribbean Americans Named Florida Supreme Court Judges

Two judges of Caribbean heritage have been named to fill vacancies on the Florida Supreme Court.

Jamaican Renatha Francis and John Couriel, an attorney of Cuban heritage, were appointed to the Florida Supreme Court.

The announcements were made by the state’s Governor Ron DeSantis during a press conference last month in Miami.

Francis, a trial judge on the 15th Circuit Court in Palm Beach, Florida, is the first Jamaican to be appointed to the state’s highest court. She has served in that position since 2019. Before that she was also on the bench in Miami Dade County. She will begin her stint on the Supreme Court in September, when she fills the requirement of being a member of the Florida Bar for at least a decade.

COMMITMENT

According to DeSantis, “Judge Francis has demonstrated a strong commitment to the rule of law as well as to the judicial craft.

“Her years of experience prior to being a county, and then a circuit judge, as well as her experience on the Bench makes her well equipped to be able to be a great justice on the Florida Supreme Court,” the governor said.

Francis, who was born and raised in Jamaica, said she was grateful for “the confidence that you have shown in giving me this tremendous opportunity to serve the people of the great state of Florida.”

She grew up in Portmore, St. Catherine and attended St. Hugh’s High School, later earing a bachelor’s degree from the University of the West Indies. Francis moved to Florida in 2004 and studied law at Florida Coastal School of Law.