Judges appointed by Jeb Bush

	Judicial selection in Florida
	Florida Supreme Court
Method:	Assisted appointment
Term:	6 years
	Florida District Courts of Appeal
Method:	Assisted appointment
Term:	6 years
	Florida Circuit Court
Method:	Nonpartisan election
Term:	6 years
	Florida County Court
Method:	Nonpartisan election
Term:	6 years

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Former Governor Jeb Bush

This page lists judges appointed by Jeb Bush (R) during their term as Governor of Florida. As of today, the total number of Bush appointees was 94. For the full profile of Bush, click here.

Ballotpedia provides comprehensive coverage of the 100 largest cities in America by population. Some Florida judges are outside of that coverage scope. As a result, this page does not provide an exhaustive list of all judges appointed by Gov. Bush.

Appointment process

In Florida, the governor makes a judicial appointment after candidates are recommended by a judicial nominating commission. After the governor appoints a judge, she or he must run for retention at the appellate level or election at the trial court level in the next general election after one year in office.

Appointed judges

The tables below list the governor's appointees to the courts across the state.

State Courts

Court of Appeals

Name	Court	Active
Joseph Lewis	Florida 1st District Court of Appeal	2001 - Present
Ricky Polston	Florida 1st District Court of Appeal	January 2, 2001 - October 1, 2008
Bradford Thomas	Florida 1st District Court of Appeal	2005 - February 28, 2025
Charles Canady	Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal	November 20, 2002 - September 6, 2008
Patricia Kelly	Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal	2001 - Present
Craig Villanti	Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal	2003 - Present
Edward LaRose	Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal	2005 - Present
Morris Silberman	Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal	January 2, 2001 - Present
Douglas Wallace	Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal
Barbara Lagoa	Florida 3rd District Court of Appeal	2006 - January 9, 2019
Frank Shepherd	Florida 3rd District Court of Appeal
Linda Ann Wells	Florida 3rd District Court of Appeal
Leslie Rothenberg	Florida 3rd District Court of Appeal	2005 - January 7, 2019
Richard Suarez	Florida 3rd District Court of Appeal	2004 - January 7, 2019
Melanie May	Florida 4th District Court of Appeal	2002 - Present
William D. Palmer	Florida 5th District Court of Appeal	2000 - 2018
Richard Orfinger	Florida 5th District Court of Appeal	2000 - January 31, 2021
Thomas Sawaya	Florida 5th District Court of Appeal	2000 - 2018
Vincent Torpy	Florida 5th District Court of Appeal	2003 - December 31, 2018
Kerry Evander	Florida 5th District Court of Appeal	2006 - February 28, 2023

Local Courts

Name	Court	Active
Benjamin B. Garagozlo	Brevard County Court
Rhonda E. Babb	Brevard County Court
Joyce H. Williams	Escambia County Court	2005 - March 31, 2019
James Yancey	Florida 10th Circuit Court
Karla F. Wright	Florida 10th Circuit Court
J. Michael McCarthy	Florida 10th Circuit Court
Roger A. Alcott	Florida 10th Circuit Court
Olin W. Shinholser	Florida 10th Circuit Court
Ellen Sue Venzer	Florida 11th Circuit Court
Bertila Soto	Florida 11th Circuit Court
Jose M. Rodriguez	Florida 11th Circuit Court
Beatrice Butchko	Florida 11th Circuit Court
Mark King Leban	Florida 11th Circuit Court
Reemberto Diaz	Florida 11th Circuit Court
Marc B. Gilner	Florida 12th Circuit Court
Charles Bergmann	Florida 13th Circuit Court
William P. Levens	Florida 13th Circuit Court
Denise Almeida-Pomponio	Florida 13th Circuit Court	2002 - Present
Mark R. Wolfe	Florida 13th Circuit Court
Ronald Ficarrotta	Florida 13th Circuit Court	1999 - 2023
Emmett Battles	Florida 13th Circuit Court	2002 - December 31, 2022
Allen L. Register	Florida 14th Circuit Court
Sandra K. McSorley	Florida 15th Circuit Court
David F. Crow	Florida 15th Circuit Court
Charles E. Burton	Florida 15th Circuit Court
Dale C. Cohen	Florida 17th Circuit Court
Elijah Williams	Florida 17th Circuit Court	2002 - Present
Michael L. Gates	Florida 17th Circuit Court
Cynthia G. Imperato	Florida 17th Circuit Court
Robert A. Rosenberg	Florida 17th Circuit Court
Alfred J. Horowitz	Florida 17th Circuit Court
Eileen M. O'Connor	Florida 17th Circuit Court
Carol-Lisa Phillips	Florida 17th Circuit Court
Susan J. Aramony	Florida 17th Circuit Court
Morgan Laur Reinman	Florida 18th Circuit Court
Marlene M. Alva	Florida 18th Circuit Court
Jack Griesbaum	Florida 18th Circuit Court
Debra Steinberg Nelson	Florida 18th Circuit Court
Elizabeth A. Metzger	Florida 19th Circuit Court
Sherwood Bauer	Florida 19th Circuit Court
Robert E. Belanger	Florida 19th Circuit Court
Barbara W. Bronis	Florida 19th Circuit Court
Steven J. Levin	Florida 19th Circuit Court
Lawrence M. Mirman	Florida 19th Circuit Court
William L. Roby	Florida 19th Circuit Court
Michael T. McHugh	Florida 20th Circuit Court
Margaret O. Steinbeck	Florida 20th Circuit Court
Mark A. Steinbeck	Florida 20th Circuit Court
G. Keith Cary	Florida 20th Circuit Court
Angela C. Dempsey	Florida 2nd Circuit Court
Charles A. Francis	Florida 2nd Circuit Court
Mallory Cooper	Florida 4th Circuit Court
E. McRae Mathis	Florida 4th Circuit Court
Willard Pope	Florida 5th Circuit Court
Lawrence J. Semento	Florida 5th Circuit Court	2002 - May 31, 2019
Carol Falvey	Florida 5th Circuit Court
William Hallman III	Florida 5th Circuit Court
Sandra Edwards-Stephens	Florida 5th Circuit Court
Curtis Neal	Florida 5th Circuit Court
Walter L. Schafer	Florida 6th Circuit Court
John A. Schaefer	Florida 6th Circuit Court
Hubert L. Grimes	Florida 7th Circuit Court
Phyllis M. Rosier	Florida 8th Circuit Court
Robert E. Roundtree Jr.	Florida 8th Circuit Court
Thomas W. Turner	Florida 9th Circuit Court
Lisa Taylor Munyon	Florida 9th Circuit Court	July 18, 2003 - Present
Jeffrey M. Fleming	Florida 9th Circuit Court
Alicia L. Latimore	Florida 9th Circuit Court
Eric R. Myers	Hillsborough County Court	2000 - January 4, 2021
Victoria R. Brennan	Miami-Dade County Court	2006 - 2011
Patricia Grinsted	Okaloosa County Court
Sandra Bosso-Pardo	Palm Beach County Court
Donald E. Horrox	Pinellas County Court
Jerri L. Collins	Seminole County Court

Judicial selection process

See also: Judicial selection in Florida

Judicial selection refers to the process used to select judges for courts. At the state level, methods of judicial selection vary substantially in the United States, and in some cases between different court types within a state. There are six primary types of judicial selection: partisan and nonpartisan elections, the Michigan method, assisted appointment, gubernatorial appointment, and legislative elections. To read more about how these selection methods are used across the country, click here.

This article covers how state court judges are selected in Florida, including:

Florida Supreme Court,
Florida District Courts of Appeal,
Florida Circuit Court, and
Limited jurisdiction courts

As of April 2025, judges for the Florida Supreme Court and Florida District Courts of Appeal were selected through the assisted appointment method, where the governor selects a nominee from a list provided by a nominating commission. Judges for the Florida Circuit Courts and Florida County Courts were selected through nonpartisan elections.

Click here to notify us of changes to judicial selection methods in this state.

Appellate state court selection in the United States, by general selection method^[1]

State profile

Demographic data for Florida
	Florida	U.S.
Total population:	20,244,914	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	53,625	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	76%	73.6%
Black/African American:	16.1%	12.6%
Asian:	2.6%	5.1%
Native American:	0.3%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more:	2.4%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	23.7%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	86.9%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	27.3%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$47,507	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	19.8%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Florida. **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Presidential voting pattern

See also: Presidential voting trends in Florida

Florida voted Republican in five out of the seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

Pivot Counties (2016)

Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won these Pivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, four are located in Florida, accounting for 1.94 percent of the total pivot counties.^[2]

Pivot Counties (2020)

In 2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won as Retained Pivot Counties and those won by Joe Biden (D) as Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. Florida had three Retained Pivot Counties and one Boomerang Pivot County, accounting for 1.66 and 4.00 percent of all Retained and Boomerang Pivot Counties, respsectively.

More Florida coverage on Ballotpedia

State courts and their selection methods across the U.S., including the District of Columbia^[1]
Method	Supreme Court (of 53)^[3]	Courts of Appeal (of 46)	Trial Courts (of 147)
Partisan elections (PE)	8	6	39
Nonpartisan elections (NPE)	13	16	34
Legislative elections (LE)	2	2	5
Gubernatorial appointment of judges (GA)	5	3	6
Assisted appointment (AA)	22	18	46
Combination or other	3^[4]	1^[5]	17^[6]

External links

Office of the Governor

Footnotes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection," archived February 2, 2015
↑ The raw data for this study was provided by Dave Leip of Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.
↑ Both Oklahoma and Texas have two state supreme courts: one for civil matters and one for criminal matters.
↑ Michigan and Ohio use nonpartisan general elections with candidates selected through partisan primaries or conventions. In the District of Columbia, judges are selected in the same manner as federal judges.
↑ Judges of the North Dakota Court of Appeals are appointed on an as-needed basis by the supreme court justices.
↑ Most courts that use combination/alternative methods (for example, mayoral appointment) are local level courts. These courts are often governed by selection guidelines that are unique to their specific region.

Florida courts

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

[define-1] 1.0 ^1.1 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection," archived February 2, 2015

[2] The raw data for this study was provided by Dave Leip of Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.

[3] Both Oklahoma and Texas have two state supreme courts: one for civil matters and one for criminal matters.

[4] Michigan and Ohio use nonpartisan general elections with candidates selected through partisan primaries or conventions. In the District of Columbia, judges are selected in the same manner as federal judges.

[5] Judges of the North Dakota Court of Appeals are appointed on an as-needed basis by the supreme court justices.

[6] Most courts that use combination/alternative methods (for example, mayoral appointment) are local level courts. These courts are often governed by selection guidelines that are unique to their specific region.

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Judges appointed by Jeb Bush

Appointment process

Appointed judges

State Courts

Court of Appeals

Local Courts

Judicial selection process

Contents

State profile

Presidential voting pattern

Pivot Counties (2016)

Pivot Counties (2020)

See also

External links

Footnotes

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