List of justices of the Florida Supreme Court explained

The Supreme Court of Florida is the highest judicial body in the state and sits at the apex of the Florida State Courts System. Its membership consists of seven justices–one of whom serves as Chief Justice–who are appointed by the Governor of Florida to 6-year terms and remain in office if retained in a general election near the end of each term.^[1]

List of justices

• denotes justices who served as chief justice for at least part of their tenure on the court while denotes currently-serving justices.

	Justice^[2]		Assumed office	Vacated office	Succeeded	Appointed by	Reason for leaving	Notes
1		Thomas Douglas	January 1846	1851	Inaugural	Legislature
2		Thomas Baltzell	January 1846	1851	Inaugural	Legislature	Defeated
3		George S. Hawkins	January 1846	1851	Inaugural	Legislature
4		George W. MacRae	January 4, 1847	January 7, 1848	Inaugural
5		Joseph B. Lancaster	January 10, 1848	1853	Inaugural
6		Walker Anderson	January 1, 1851	May 4, 1853	Inaugural	Legislature	Resigned
7		Leslie A. Thompson	January 1, 1851	1853	Inaugural	Legislature	Defeated
8		Albert G. Semmes	January 1, 1851	1853	Inaugural	Legislature
9		Benjamin D. Wright	May 24, 1853	1853	Inaugural		Defeated
1		Thomas Douglas	1854	September 11, 1855	Inaugural	Direct election
2		Thomas Baltzell	1854	1859	Inaugural	Direct election
10		Charles H. DuPont	1854	1868	Inaugural	Direct election
11		Bird M. Pearson	1856	1859	Inaugural	Direct election	Did not run for reelection
12		William A. Forward	1860	1865	Inaugural	Direct election	Did not run for reelection
13		David S. Walker	1860	1865	Inaugural	Direct election	Resigned
14		Augustus Maxwell	1865	1866	Inaugural		William Marvin	Resigned
15		James McNair Baker	1865	1868	Inaugural		David S. Walker
16		Samuel J. Douglas	1866	1868	Inaugural		David S. Walker
17		Ossian B. Hart	1868	1873	Inaugural		Elected Governor of Florida
18		James Westcott III	1868	January 7, 1885	Inaugural		Harrison Reed	Resigned
19		Edwin M. Randall	January 1869	January 7, 1885	Inaugural		Harrison Reed	Resigned
20		Franklin D. Fraser	January 16, 1873	May 1874	Hart		Ossian B. Hart	Resigned
21		Robert B. Van Valkenburgh	May 20, 1874	August 1, 1888	Fraser		Died in office
22		George G. McWhorter	January 13, 1885	July 1, 1887	Randall		Edward A. Perry	Resigned
23		George P. Raney	January 13, 1885	May 31, 1894	Westcott		Edward A. Perry	Resigned
14		Augustus Maxwell	July 1, 1887	1890	McWhorter		Did not run for re-election
24		Henry L. Mitchell	August 7, 1888	January 1, 1891	Van Valkenburgh		Resigned
25		R. Fenwick Taylor	January 1, 1891	February 28, 1925	Mitchell		Francis P. Fleming	Retired
26		Milton H. Mabry	January 1891	1903	Maxwell	Direct election	Did not run for reelection
27		Benjamin S. Liddon	June 1, 1894	January 1897	Raney		Resigned
28		Francis B. Carter	January 11, 1897	May 25, 1905	Liddon			Resigned
29		Thomas M. Shackleford	December 1, 1902	September 1, 1917	Inaugural		William Sherman Jennings	Resigned
30		Robert S. Cockrell	December 1, 1902	January 2, 1917	Inaugural		William Sherman Jennings	Defeated
31		Evelyn C. Maxwell	December 1, 1902	February 15, 1904	Inaugural		William Sherman Jennings	Resigned
32		William A. Hocker	January 6, 1903	January 5, 1915	Mabry		Did not run for reelection
33		James B. Whitfield	February 15, 1904	January 4, 1943	Maxwell		William Sherman Jennings	Retired
34		Charles B. Parkhill	May 25, 1905	January 1912	Carter		Resigned
35		W. H. Ellis	January 5, 1915	November 1, 1938	Hocker	Direct election	Retired
36		Jefferson B. Browne	January 2, 1917	May 20, 1925	Cockrell	Direct election	Resigned	^[3]
37		Thomas F. West	September 1, 1917	December 3, 1925	Shackleford		Sidney Johnston Catts	Resigned
38		William Glenn Terrell	May 15, 1923	January 12, 1964	Parkhill		Died in office
39		Louie Willard Strum	March 2, 1925	March 5, 1931	Taylor		Appointed to Federal District Court
40		Armstead Brown	July 1, 1925	December 1, 1946	Browne		John W. Martin	Retired
41		Rivers H. Buford	December 4, 1925	April 3, 1948	West		John W. Martin	Retired
42		Fred Henry Davis	March 9, 1931	June 20, 1937	Strum		Doyle E. Carlton	Died in office
43		Roy H. Chapman	June 23, 1937	August 9, 1952	Davis		Fred P. Cone	Died in office
44		Elwyn Thomas	November 1, 1938	January 7, 1969	Ellis	Direct election	Retired
45		Alto L. Adams	November 25, 1940	October 22, 1951	Inaugural		Fred P. Cone	Resigned
46		Harold Sebring	January 5, 1943	September 15, 1955	Whitfield	Direct election	Appointed Dean of Stetson College of Law
47		Paul D. Barns	December 2, 1946	September 1, 1949	Brown	Direct election	Retired
48		T. Frank Hobson	April 6, 1948	February 13, 1962	Buford		Millard F. Caldwell	Retired
49		B. K. Roberts	September 1, 1949	December 1, 1976	Barns		Fuller Warren	Retired
50		John E. Mathews	October 23, 1951	April 29, 1955	Adams		Fuller Warren	Died in office
51		E. Harris Drew	August 18, 1952	January 5, 1971	Chapman		Fuller Warren	Retired
52		B. Campbell Thornal	May 9, 1955	November 4, 1970	Mathews		Died in office
53		Stephen C. O'Connell	October 21, 1955	October 15, 1967	Sebring		LeRoy Collins	Appointed president of the University of Florida
54		Millard Caldwell	February 14, 1962	January 7, 1969	Hobson		Mandatory retirement
55		Richard Ervin	January 17, 1964	January 6, 1975	Terrell		Retired
45		Alto L. Adams	November 13, 1967	August 1, 1968	O'Connell		Claude R. Kirk Jr.	Resigned
56		Wade L. Hopping	August 1, 1968	January 7, 1969	Adams		Claude R. Kirk Jr.	Defeated
57		Vassar B. Carlton	January 7, 1969	February 28, 1974	Hopping	Direct election	Retired
58		James C. Adkins	January 7, 1969	January 6, 1987	Caldwell	Direct election	Mandatory retirement
59		Joseph A. Boyd Jr.	January 7, 1969	January 6, 1987	Thomas	Direct election	Mandatory retirement
60		David L. McCain	December 14, 1970	August 31, 1975	Thornal		Claude R. Kirk Jr.	Resigned before impeachment
61		Hal P. Dekle	January 5, 1971	April 30, 1975	Drew	Direct election	Resigned before impeachment
62		Ben Overton	March 27, 1974	January 4, 1999	Carlton		Reubin Askew	Mandatory retirement
63		Arthur J. England Jr.	January 8, 1975	August 9, 1981	Ervin	Direct election	Resigned
64		Alan C. Sundberg	June 2, 1975	September 15, 1982	Dekle		Reubin Askew	Resigned
65		Joseph W. Hatchett	September 2, 1975	July 18, 1979	McCain		Reubin Askew	Appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
66		Frederick B. Karl	January 4, 1977	April 5, 1978	Roberts	Direct election	Resigned
67		James E. Alderman	April 5, 1978	August 31, 1985	Karl		Resigned
68		Parker Lee McDonald	October 26, 1979	May 31, 1994	Hatchett		Retired
69		Raymond Ehrlich	December 3, 1981	January 7, 1991	England		Bob Martinez	Mandatory retirement
70		Leander J. Shaw Jr.	January 10, 1983	January 6, 2003	Sundberg		Mandatory retirement
71		Rosemary Barkett	November 15, 1985	April 21, 1994	Alderman		Bob Martinez	Appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
72		Stephen H. Grimes	January 30, 1987	November 17, 1997	Adkins		Bob Martinez	Mandatory retirement
73		Gerald Kogan	January 30, 1987	December 31, 1998	Boyd		Bob Martinez	Retired
74		Major B. Harding	January 28, 1991	August 31, 2002	Ehrlich		Lawton Chiles	Retired
75		Harry Lee Anstead	August 29, 1994	January 5, 2009	Barkett		Lawton Chiles	Mandatory retirement
76		Charles T. Wells	June 9, 1994	March 3, 2009	McDonald		Lawton Chiles	Mandatory retirement
77		Barbara Pariente	December 10, 1997	January 8, 2019	Grimes		Lawton Chiles	Mandatory retirement
78		R. Fred Lewis	December 7, 1998	January 8, 2019	Kogan		Lawton Chiles	Mandatory retirement
79		Peggy Quince	January 5, 1999	January 8, 2019	Overton	Lawton Chiles / Jeb Bush	Mandatory retirement
80		Raoul G. Cantero III	July 10, 2002	September 6, 2008	Harding		Jeb Bush	Returned to private practice
81		Kenneth B. Bell	January 7, 2003	October 1, 2008	Shaw		Jeb Bush	Returned to private practice
82					Cantero		Charlie Crist
83					Bell			Resigned
84					Anstead		Charlie Crist
85		James E. C. Perry	March 11, 2009	December 30, 2016	Wells		Charlie Crist	Mandatory retirement
86		C. Alan Lawson	December 31, 2016	August 31, 2022	Perry		Rick Scott	Retired
87		Barbara Lagoa	January 9, 2019	December 6, 2019	Lewis		Ron DeSantis	Appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
88		Robert J. Luck	January 14, 2019	November 19, 2019	Pariente		Ron DeSantis	Appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
89					Quince		Ron DeSantis
90					Lagoa		Ron DeSantis
91					Luck		Ron DeSantis
92					Lawson		Ron DeSantis
93					Polston		Ron DeSantis

See also

• Florida Constitution
• Government of Florida
• Judiciary of Florida

Further reading

• Book: Manley, Walter W. . Brown . Canter. The Supreme Court of Florida and its predecessor courts, 1821-1917 . 1997 . University Press of Florida . 0-8130-2298-3 . 1156918894.
• Book: Manley, Walter W. . Brown . Canter . The Supreme Court of Florida, 1917-1972 . 2006 . University Press of Florida . 0-8130-3782-4 . 1162568991.
• Book: Dyckman, Martin A. . A Most Disorderly Court : Scandal and Reform in the Florida Judiciary. . 2008 . University Press of Florida . 978-0-8130-5925-9 . 883571079.
• Book: Skene, Neil . The Supreme Court of Florida : a journey toward justice, 1972-1987 . 2017 . University Press of Florida. 978-0-8130-5448-3 . 959592354.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Supreme Court of Florida .
2. http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/pub_info/documents/appointed.pdf Succession of Justices of Supreme Court of Florida
3. "Lottery Today to Select A Chief Justice in Florida", The New York Times, January 2, 1923, p. 17