Preceded by Ricky Polston Role Justice Name Jorge Labarga | Preceded by Harry Lee Anstead Appointed by Charlie Crist Education University of Florida | |
Nominated by Florida Judicial Nominating Commission Website Florida Supreme Court Bio | ||
Juez hispano es reconocido
Jorge Labarga (born 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.
Contents
- Juez hispano es reconocido
- Chief justice jorge labarga florida supreme court
- Life
- Education
- Judicial career
- References
Chief justice jorge labarga florida supreme court
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. Labarga is the first person of Hispanic descent to lead the state of Florida's judicial branch.