Barbara Lagoa

American judge (born 1967)

Barbara Lagoa (born November 2, 1967) is an American attorney and jurist serving as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit . Prior to becoming a federal judge , she was the first Latina and Cuban American woman appointed to serve as a justice of the Supreme Court of Florida .

In 2020, Lagoa was a finalist to succeed Ruth Bader Ginsburg as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States , which ultimately went to Amy Coney Barrett .

Early life and education

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Lagoa was born in Miami , Florida, in 1967.

Her parents, Antonio and Araceli Lagoa, were Cuban immigrants who fled Cuba following the Cuban Revolution and the assumption of power by Fidel Castro . She grew up in the majority Cuban-American city of Hialeah, Florida . She is bilingual in English and Spanish .

Lagoa studied English literature at Florida International University , graduating in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts _cum laude _ and Phi Kappa Phi membership. She then attended Columbia Law School , where she was an associate editor of the _Columbia Law Review _. She graduated with a Juris Doctor in 1992.

Career

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Early career

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After law school, Lagoa returned to Miami and entered private practice at the law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius . From 1998 to 2003, she was an associate at Greenberg Traurig . In 2000, Lagoa was one of a dozen lawyers who mostly _pro bono _ represented the Miami family of Elián González . In 2003, Lagoa became an assistant United States attorney for the Southern District of Florida , working in the Civil, Major Crimes, and Appellate Sections.

Florida Supreme Court

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Lagoa was appointed to the Third District Court of Appeal by Governor Jeb Bush in June 2006, and became chief judge on January 1, 2019.

On January 9, 2019, she was appointed to the Supreme Court of Florida by Governor Ron DeSantis . She was the first Hispanic woman and the first Cuban-American woman to sit on the Florida Supreme Court. In April 2019, Lagoa wrote for the unanimous court when it found that DeSantis had acted within his authority by suspending Sheriff Scott Israel for his response to the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting .

In November 2019, Lagoa participated in oral arguments concerning an advisory opinion on whether the governor could require felons whom voters had re-enfranchised through 2018 Florida Amendment 4 to pay fines before being allowed to vote.

Lagoa resigned her position when she was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit .

Federal judicial service

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On September 12, 2019, President Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate Lagoa to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit . She was nominated to the seat being vacated by Judge Stanley Marcus . On October 15, 2019, her nomination was sent to the Senate. On October 16, 2019, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee . On November 7, 2019, her nomination was reported out of committee by an 18–4 vote. On November 19, 2019, the Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by an 80–15 vote, and on November 20, 2019, her nomination was confirmed by an 80–15 vote. She received her judicial commission on December 6, 2019.

In July 2020, Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote directly to Lagoa to urge her to recuse herself from a challenge to [felon disenfranchisement in Florida](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felon_disenfranchisement_in_Florida "Felon disenfranchisement in F

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