Justice Lawson announces retirement from Florida

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Supreme Court Justice Alan Lawson announced that he plans to retire from his post effective Aug. 31, according to a release from the Florida Supreme Court press office Friday.

The announcement came in a direct letter to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

DeSantis now is poised to nominate his fourth Florida Supreme Court justice.  If he does it now, the newly appointed justice will have to go through a merit retention vote on the November ballot.

After Lawson broke the news, he went on to describe his time on the bench. “One of the greatest joys of my 35-year legal career has been and continues to be the ability to serve alongside a bench and bar filled with extraordinary individuals who work tirelessly to assure that the citizens we serve are well-served by our system of justice,” Lawson stated. 

“That system is often criticized yet still endures as the best system of justice that the world has ever seen,” he concluded in his letter. 

According to Florida’s Supreme Court, Lawson has served on the state’s highest court since 2016. Since then, he has served on a number of advisory committees, including the Budget Oversight Committee, the Standing Committee on Fairness and Diversity, and the Code and Rules of Evidence Committee. 

He earned his juris doctorate from Florida State University with highest honors in 1987. He was also honored with the “Outstanding Jurist Award” in 2005 during his tenure in the Ninth Judicial Circuit. 

According to Ballotpedia, justices are appointed to the Florida Supreme Court through an “assisted appointment with a governor-controlled judicial nominating commission.” This means that each justice is screened by a group of nine members who are appointed by the governor, and this group then submits a list of qualified names to the governor. 

At that point, DeSantis would select a new justice from the list. 

Under Florida Constitution, justices must retire once they reach the age of 75.