Assistant Federal Public Defender Ayana Harris and AUSA Miesha Darrough are joining the state court bench, two of four new County Court judges named today by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Former AUSA and current County Court Judge Robert Watson is being elevated to the Circuit Court, along with two other County Court judges. The Governor just made the announcement at a press conference at the University of Miami, where he presented his latest seven judicial appointees.
Harris is a Howard Law grad and has been a member of the Florida Bar since 2002. She first served as a state public defender and since 2008 has been an Assistant Federal Public Defender.
Darrough is also a graduate of Howard University Law School and has been a member of the Florida Bar since 2005. She served as an Assistant State Attorney from 2005 to 2014, including as a felonies Division Chief. Darrough then joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office, where she is currently Special Counsel to U.S. Attorney Ariana Fajardo Orshan.
Watson is a Stanford Law grad and has been a Florida lawyer since 2003. He practiced at Steel Hector & Davis and Holland & Knight before serving as an AUSA from 2011 to 2016. After two years at Kobre & Kim, he was appointed to the County Court by then-Gov. Rick Scott in January 2019.
Congratulations to all of the appointees!
The SDFLA Blog is dedicated to providing news and notes regarding federal practice in the Southern District of Florida. The New Times calls the blog "the definitive source on South Florida's federal court system." All tips on court happenings are welcome and will remain anonymous. Please email David Markus at dmarkus@markuslaw.com
11 comments:
Who are the other appointees?
Guessing our anti-fed society trolls will not be commenting on these picks...
This is great for Ayana - she was a finalist for basically every judicial appointment made in Miami during Rick Scott's governorship but he passed her over every time. Maybe we are entering a phase where state court appointments will be less partisan? Or maybe the Federalist Society has no one left who is not already a state or federal judge in South Florida.
Despite running a very Trumpish campaign (recall the commercial he ran in which he was playing blocks with his son and they were building a wall), DeSantis appears to be governing as a relative moderate and pragmatist. He appears to be a considerable improvement on Rick Scott.
Because you asked. The Federalist Society plays the long game. Now supporters like you will help us by pointing to Ms. Harris's appointment to the county court every time one of our guys with much less experience gets appointed to the Southern District of Florida and 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Your welcome.
12:44
Let me know when someone NOT a member of the federalist society and Not male gets appointed to the federal bench in the SDFLA
I see 4 11th Circuit judges are speaking at the Federalist Society florida meeting. In February, the Code of Conduct Committee, which aids federal judges in complying with their ethical obligations, issued Advisory Opinion 116.
This opinion concluded that judges are prohibited from engaging with organizations involved with “hot-button” political issues or that the public associates with political positions. Additionally, judges must stay away from groups funded by dark money and “persons or companies engaged in political activities.”
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I agree RBGs latest idiotic comment about Trump is totally inappropriate, like all the others.
The reports said she said "he's not a lawyer." That seems like a true statement. Unlike the screed our President unleashed today that's littered with falsehoods.
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Your amazingly persuasive post has caused me to change my mind! It is totally appropriate for a supreme court justice to get into it on impeachment publicly with the president! Maybe next they can tweet back and forth! Or maybe RBG could be a CNN contributor! As long as her retorts to the president are true, then hell, I'm all for it! In fact, wish Rehnquist had publicly pointed out to bill clinton how corrosive perjury is to the rule of law! That's true too!
Your ignorance is showing. Is Ginsburg presiding over the trial? Anyway, all she said is he's not a lawyer. It's not like she said something comparing the House to the Salem Witch Trials.
And we haven't even mentioned the Neil "MAGA" Gorsuch's appearance on Faux & Friends!
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