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Jamie Rutland Grosshans
2020 - Present
2029
5
Jamie Rutland Grosshans is a judge of the Florida Supreme Court. She assumed office on September 14, 2020. Her current term ends on January 2, 2029.
Grosshans ran for re-election for judge of the Florida Supreme Court. She won in the retention election on November 8, 2022.
Grosshans was appointed to the state supreme court by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on September 14, 2020, following Justice Robert J. Luck's appointment to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.[1] To learn more about this vacancy, click here.
Before joining the state supreme court, Grosshans served on the Orange County Court in Florida and the state's Fifth District Court of Appeal.[2]
Biography
Grosshans was raised in Brookhaven, Mississippi.[2] She received a bachelor's degree from Thomas Edison State College and a law degree from the University of Mississippi.[3]
Following her graduation from law school, Grosshans worked as an assistant state attorney for the Florida 9th Circuit Court before beginning a private practice.[2] Grosshans also worked as an adjunct professor of hospitality law at Valencia College.[2] Gov. Rick Scott (R) appointed Grosshans to the Orange County Court in 2017 and to the state's Fifth District Court of Appeal in 2018, where she served until her appointment to the state supreme court by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in 2020.[3][2]
Elections
The section below details Grosshans' judicial appointments and retention elections throughout her career.
2022
See also: Florida Supreme Court elections, 2022
Florida Supreme Court, Jamie Rutland Grosshans' seat
Jamie Rutland Grosshans was retained to the Florida Supreme Court on November 8, 2022 with 63.8% of the vote.
Retention Vote |
% |
Votes |
|||
| ✔ | Yes |
63.8
|
4,306,135 | ||
No |
36.2
|
2,439,942 | |||
Total Votes |
6,746,077 | ||||
|
|
2020
Grosshans stood for retention on November 3, 2020. She unofficially withdrew from the election following her appointment to the Florida Supreme Court but her name remained on the ballot where she received 72.3% of the vote.[4]
Florida 5th District Court of Appeal
Jamie Rutland Grosshans was retained to the Florida 5th District Court of Appeal on November 3, 2020 with 72.3% of the vote.
Retention Vote |
% |
Votes |
|||
| ✔ | Yes |
72.3
|
1,681,452 | ||
No |
27.7
|
644,692 | |||
Total Votes |
2,326,144 | ||||
|
|
Campaign finance
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Jamie Rutland Grosshans did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
2020
Jamie Rutland Grosshans did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
Appointments
2020
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) appointed John Couriel and Jamie Grosshans to the Florida Supreme Court to succeed Justices Robert J. Luck and Barbara Lagoa. Couriel and Grosshans joined one other DeSantis nominee, Justice Carlos Muñiz, on the seven-member supreme court.[1][5] The state supreme court seats became vacant after Luck and Lagoa were confirmed to the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in November 2019.
The governor had originally appointed Couriel and Renatha Francis, but a five-member Florida Supreme Court ruled against Francis' appointment due to a constitutional requirement of the office and ordered the governor to select a different nominee. Under Florida law, state supreme court justices were chosen through a process of assisted appointment, where the governor chose a nominee from a list of potential candidates provided by a judicial nominating commission.
2018
- See also: Florida Fifth District Court of Appeal
Governor Rick Scott (R) appointed Grosshans to the Florida Fifth District Court of Appeal on July 27, 2018, following the resignation of Judge William Palmer.[6]
2017
- See also: Orange County Court, Florida
Governor Rick Scott (R) appointed Grosshans to the Orange County Court in Florida on August 7, 2017, to fill the vacancy created by the elevation of Judge Tanya D. Wilson to the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court.[7]
Noteworthy cases
Noteworthy cases may be selected due to their impact on legal precedent, substantial media attention, or overlaps with another area of editorial interest at Ballotpedia. To suggest cases we should cover here, email us.
State constitutional right to privacy and abortion
- See also: Florida Supreme Court (Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida v. State of Florida, SC2022-1050)
- See also: Florida Supreme Court (Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida v. State of Florida, SC2022-1050)
On April 1, 2024, the Florida Supreme Court issued a 6-1 ruling that receded from In re T.W., a Minor (1989), an opinion that held that the state's Privacy Clause, enacted in 1980, included a state constitutional right to abortion. Justice Jamie Rutland Grosshans wrote the majority's opinion in Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida v. State of Florida. She wrote, "we recede from our prior decisions in which—relying on reasoning the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected—we held that the Privacy Clause guaranteed the right to receive an abortion through the end of the second trimester." The opinion said that there is a "tenuous connection between 'privacy' and abortion—an issue that, unlike other privacy matters, directly implicates the interests of both developing human life and the pregnant woman." Justice Grosshans wrote that, in 1980, "even if it is possible that voters would have understood the Privacy Clause to protect certain individual autonomy interests, it is by no means clear that those interests would have included the controversial subject of abortion, which uniquely involves the interests of prenatal life."[8]
State supreme court judicial selection in Florida
- See also: Judicial selection in Florida
The seven justices of the Florida Supreme Court are selected through the assisted appointment method. A judicial nominating commission consisting of nine members who are appointed by the governor to four-year terms screens potential judicial candidates.[9] The commission submits a list of three to six nominees to the governor, and the governor must then appoint a judge from the list.[10]
Newly appointed judges serve for at least one year, after which they appear in a yes-no retention election held during the next general election. If retained, judges serve six-year terms.[10] Under the Florida constitution, a judge must retire at age 75; however, a judge who reaches 75 after serving at least half of his or her term may complete that term.[11]
Qualifications
To serve on the court, a judge must be:
- a qualified elector;
- a state resident;
- admitted to practice law in the state for 10 years before assuming the bench; and
- under the age of 75.
Chief justice
The chief justice of the supreme court is selected by peer vote. He or she serves in that capacity for two years.[10]
Vacancies
If a midterm vacancy occurs, the seat is filled as it normally would be if the vacancy occurred at the end of a judge's term. A judicial nominating commission recommends three to six qualified candidates to the governor, and the governor selects a successor from that list. The new appointee serves for at least one year before running in a yes-no retention election.[10]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
2022 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Office of the Governor, "Governor Ron DeSantis Appoints Judge Jamie Grosshans to the Florida Supreme Court," Sept. 14, 2020 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "appt" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Florida Supreme Court, "Justice Jamie R. Grosshans," accessed June 24, 2021
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Office of the Governor, "Governor Scott Appoints Jamie Rutland Grosshans to the Orange County Court," Aug. 7, 2017
- ↑ Florida Secretary of State, "Official Results," accessed June 22, 2021
- ↑ WESH, "DeSantis appoints state Supreme Court justice with ties to Central Florida," September 14, 2020
- ↑ Ninth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida, "Governor Appoints Judge Jamie Grosshans to the 5th DCA," July 27, 2018
- ↑ Conference of County Court Judges of Florida, "Governor Scott Appoints Jamie Rutland Grosshans to the Orange County Court," accessed June 24, 2021
- ↑ Florida Supreme Court, "Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida v. State of Florida," April 1, 2024
- ↑ American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Florida; Judicial Nominating Commissions," archived January 13, 2012
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial selection: Florida," archived October 2, 2014
- ↑ Florida Constitution, "Article V, Section 8," accessed September 10, 2021
Federal courts:
Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Middle District of Florida, Northern District of Florida, Southern District of Florida • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Middle District of Florida, Northern District of Florida, Southern District of Florida
State courts:
Florida Supreme Court • Florida District Courts of Appeal • Florida Circuit Court • Florida County Court
State resources:
Courts in Florida • Florida judicial elections • Judicial selection in Florida
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