MIAMI – President Donald Trump said Monday that he is considering a Cuban-American federal appellate court judge from Miami as one of five candidates to fill the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s vacancy.
During a Monday morning interview with “Fox & Friends,” Trump said Judge Barbara Lagoa, who grew up in Hialeah, was a candidate. Ginsburg, who served in the Supreme Court for 27 years, died on Friday of complications with pancreatic cancer.
Lagoa, 52, graduated from Florida International University and Columbia Law School. She was among the lawyers who volunteered to help Elian Gonzalez’s family in Miami. In 2003, she joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida as a prosecutor and Gov. Jeb Bush appointed her to the Third District Court of Appeal about three years later.
Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed her as the first Latina Justice of the Supreme Court of Florida last year. Her investiture was in May. She left Florida’s top court on Dec. 6 when she received her commission as a judge on the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals based in Atlanta from Trump.
“She is a terrific woman,” Trump said on Monday morning during the Fox News interview.
Trump also indicated Judge Amy Coney Barrett, of Indiana, and Judge Allison Jones Rushing, of North Carolina, are among Lagoa’s contenders.
Trump said he will announce his choice after Ginsburg’s funeral services at the Arlington National Cemetery. Her dying wish, according to her granddaughter, was for Trump to wait until after the Nov. 3 election to choose her replacement.
MORE ABOUT LAGOA
Lagoa’s civil practice at Greenberg Traurig focused on general and complex commercial litigation, particularly the areas of employment discrimination, business torts, securities litigation, construction litigation, and insurance coverage disputes.
Lagoa was admitted to The Florida Bar, the United States District Courts for the Middle and Southern Districts of Florida, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. She was also a member of the Dade County Bar Association, and the Florida Association for Women Lawyers.
Lagoa also served on the Board of Directors for the YWCA of Greater Miami and Dade County, the Film Society of Miami and Kristi House. She was also a member of the Federal Judicial Nominating Commission and the Eugene P. Spellman and William Hoeveler Chapter of the American Inns of Court.
Lagoa is married to Paul C. Huck, Jr., an attorney, and they have three daughters.
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May 10, 2019
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