Ceremony set for Florida Supreme Court Justice Renatha Francis

Those in state government are focused on this Tuesday’s ceremony to designate Ben Albritton as the next president of the Florida Senate. But there’s another big to-do happening in Tallahassee a day later across the street. More than a year after her appointment, Florida Supreme Court Justice Renatha Francis is set to have her ceremonial investiture at the Supreme Court building, 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. 

“An investiture is the formal ceremony during which the governor presents a new justice’s credentials to the court,” The Florida Bar News has explained. “It usually is scheduled several months after the justice actually takes office.” (Judges and justices who were appointed during the pandemic had their investitures delayed even longer, it added.)

DeSantis tapped Francis for a vacancy at the Supreme Court in 2020 but her appointment was embroiled in a legal and political battle. Democratic lawmaker Geraldine Thompson successfully blocked Francis because she did not at the time meet a 10-year Florida Bar membership requirement for justices. The governor again appointed Francis after the 10-year requirement had been satisfied.

She’s now one of DeSantis’ five appointments on the seven-member panel, which he has single-handedly recast as a conservative body, starting after the 2019 retirements of a trio of liberal-leaning justices. As Francis said at her 2022 appointment announcement: “The Florida Supreme Court protects the people’s liberty, and … the way that we do that is by respecting and observing the limited role that judges play in our constitutional system of government.”

For those unable to attend in person, Francis’ investiture will be televised on The Florida Channel.