Muñiz will continue as Florida’s chief justice

Carlos Muñiz will serve a second two-year term as chief justice of Florida, first among equals on the Florida Supreme Court and chief administrator of the state’s court system, the court announced Thursday.

His new term will begin on July 1, court spokesman Paul Flemming announced.

Muñiz became chief in 2022, replacing Charles Canady, who’d also served two consecutive terms — as had Jorge Labarga before him.

The court traditionally has selected its chiefs by seniority but passed over former Justice Alan Lawson two years ago. The Florida Bulldog, reporting on court politics and citing an unnamed insider, said conservative justices considered Lawson too “squishy on issues like diversity.”

Muñiz’s elevation accompanied turnover on the court that saw Lawson and Justice Ricky Polston leave for lucrative outside jobs. Lawson had two years left in his six-year term and Polston had just won a merit-retention election.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has now appointed five of the court’s seven members following their vetting by Leonard Leo, long the force behind the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies.

Muñiz , once mentioned as a possible U.S. Supreme Court nominee under President Donald Trump, lacked any judicial experience before DeSantis elevated him to the state’s highest court in January 2019, having served as a aide to former Gov. Jeb Bush and state Attorney General Pam Bondi and more recently as general counsel to U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos under Trump.