TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida Supreme Court Justices Renatha Francis and Meredith L. Sasso are up for a retention vote for six-year terms on Nov. 5.
Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed both members of The Federalist Society, a conservative and libertarian legal organization.
In the Planned Parenthood v. State case, both held that the state’s 15-week abortion ban does not violate the right to privacy under the state constitution.
Both dissented when the court released an advisory opinion agreeing to a proposed constitutional amendment on abortion on the November ballot.
When DeSantis nominated Francis in 2022, she became the first Jamaican-American to serve on the Florida Supreme Court. She earned her law degree from the Florida Coastal School of Law in 2010. Former Gov. Rick Scott appointed her to serve in the 11th Judicial Circuit of Miami-Dade.
Sasso, raised in Tallahassee, earned her law degree from the University of Florida in 2008. She was the chief deputy general counsel to former Gov. Rick Scott, who later appointed her to the Fifth District Court of Appeal. DeSantis nominated Sasso last year.
Florida voters imposed merit retention as a check on appointees 48 years ago, and they have yet to contradict a governor’s appointment.