Barbara Lagoa (born November 2, 1967) is an American attorney and jurist serving as a

United States circuit judge In the United States, federal judges are judges who serve on courts established under Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. They include the chief justice and the associate justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, the circuit judges of the U.S. ...

of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (in case citations, 11th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the following U.S. district courts: * Middle District of Alabama * Northern District of Alabama * ...

. Prior to becoming a federal judge, she was the first

Latina Latina or Latinas most often refers to: * Latinas, a demographic group in the United States * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America. *Latin Americans Latina and Latinas may also refer ...

and

Cuban American Cuban Americans ( es, cubanoestadounidenses or ''cubanoamericanos'') are Americans who trace their cultural heritage to Cuba regardless of phenotype or ethnic origin. The word may refer to someone born in the United States of Cuban descent or t ...

woman appointed to serve as a justice of the Supreme Court of Florida. In 2020, Lagoa was a finalist to succeed

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg ( ; ; March 15, 1933September 18, 2020) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until her death in 2020. She was nominated by Presiden ...

as an

associate justice Associate justice or associate judge (or simply associate) is a judicial panel member who is not the chief justice in some jurisdictions. The title "Associate Justice" is used for members of the Supreme Court of the United States and some sta ...

of the Supreme Court of the United States, which ultimately went to

Amy Coney Barrett Amy Vivian Coney Barrett (born January 28, 1972) is an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. The fifth woman to serve on the court, she was nominated by President Donald Trump and has served since October 27, 2020. ...

Early life and education

Lagoa was born in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

, Florida, in 1967. Lagoa's parents, Antonio and Araceli Lagoa, were

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

n immigrants who fled Cuba following the

Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution ( es, Revolución Cubana) was carried out after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état which placed Fulgencio Batista as head of state and the failed mass strike in opposition that followed. After failing to contest Batista in co ...

and the assumption of power by Fidel Castro. She grew up in the majority

Cuban-American Cuban Americans ( es, cubanoestadounidenses or ''cubanoamericanos'') are Americans who trace their cultural heritage to Cuba regardless of phenotype or ethnic origin. The word may refer to someone born in the United States of Cuban descent or ...

city of

Hialeah, Florida Hialeah ( ; ) is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. With a population of 223,109 as of the 2020 census, Hialeah is the sixth-largest city in Florida. It is the second largest city by population in the Miami metropolitan area ...

. She is bilingual in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

. Lagoa studied English literature at

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Miami-Dade County. Founded in 1965, the school opened its doors to students in 1972. FIU has grown to become the third-largest university in Florid ...

, graduating in 1989 with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

'' cum laude'' and

Phi Kappa Phi The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi (or simply Phi Kappa Phi or ) is an honor society established in 1897 to recognize and encourage superior scholarship without restriction as to area of study, and to promote the "unity and democracy of education ...

membership. She then attended

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...

, where she was an associate editor of the ''

Columbia Law Review The ''Columbia Law Review'' is a law review edited and published by students at Columbia Law School. The journal publishes scholarly articles, essays, and student notes. It was established in 1901 by Joseph E. Corrigan and John M. Woolsey, who se ...

''. She graduated with a Juris Doctor in 1992.

Career

Early career

After law school, Lagoa entered private practice at the law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

. Lagoa returned to Miami in 1993 and worked at Miami law firms. From 1998 to 2003, Lagoa was an associate at

Greenberg Traurig Greenberg Traurig is a multinational law firm founded in Miami in 1967. As of 2022, the Greenberg Traurig is the 9th largest law firm in the United States. The firm has 43 offices in the United States, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and ...

. In 2000, Lagoa was one of a dozen lawyers who mostly '' pro bono'' represented the Miami family of

Elián González Elián González Brotons (born December 6, 1993) is a Cuban technician who, as a child, became embroiled in a heated international custody and immigration controversy in 2000 involving the governments of Cuba and the United States, his father Ju ...

. 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

Lagoa was appointed to the Third District Court of Appeal by Governor

Jeb Bush John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (born February 11, 1953) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. Bush, who grew up in Houston, was the second son of former President George H. W. 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 Ronald Dion DeSantis (; born September 14, 1978) is an American politician serving as the 46th governor of Florida since January 2019. A member of the Republican Party, DeSantis represented Florida's 6th district in the U.S. House of Repres ...

. 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 An advisory opinion is an opinion issued by a court or a commission like an election commission that does not have the effect of adjudicating a specific legal case, but merely advises on the constitutionality or interpretation of a law. Some cou ...

on whether the governor could require felons whom voters had re-enfranchised through

2018 Florida Amendment 4 Florida Amendment 4, also the Voting Rights Restoration for Felons Initiative, is an amendment to the Constitution of Florida passed by ballot initiative on November 6, 2018, as part of the 2018 Florida elections. The proposition restored the ...

to pay fines before being allowed to vote. Lagoa resigned her position when she was appointed to the

Federal judicial service

On September 12, 2019, President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

announced his intent to nominate Lagoa to a seat on the

. 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 The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nominations ...

. On November 7, 2019, her nomination was reported out of committee by an 18–4 vote. On November 19, 2019, the Senate invoked

cloture Cloture (, also ), closure or, informally, a guillotine, is a motion or process in parliamentary procedure aimed at bringing debate to a quick end. The cloture procedure originated in the French National Assembly, from which the name is taken. ' ...

on her nomination by an 80–15 vote, and on November 20, 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 Judicial disqualification, also referred to as recusal, is the act of abstaining from participation in an official action such as a legal proceeding due to a conflict of interest of the presiding court official or administrative officer. Applica ...

herself from a challenge to felon disenfranchisement in Florida because of her earlier participation in a related matter on the Florida Supreme Court. Lagoa and her fellow Judge Robert Luck declined to recuse themselves: "An objective, disinterested lay person, knowing that we asked questions in a different proceeding (advisory vs. case-and-controversy), in a different court (Florida Supreme Court vs. federal court), with different issues (interpreting the state constitution vs. federal constitutional questions), and with different participants (“interested persons” vs. parties), would not reasonably entertain a significant doubt about our impartiality in this case." In September 2020, Lagoa joined the majority when the ''

en banc In law, an en banc session (; French for "in bench"; also known as ''in banc'', ''in banco'' or ''in bank'') is a session in which a case is heard before all the judges of a court (before the entire bench) rather than by one judge or a smaller p ...

'' circuit by a 6-4 vote upheld the constitutionality of the law that the Florida legislature had passed, which required re-enfranchised felons to pay all financial obligations, including fines, fees, and restitution before being allowed to vote. Lagoa joined Chief Judge William H. Pryor Jr.'s majority opinion, joined Pryor's additional concurrence, and authored her own concurrence.

Potential Supreme Court nomination

On September 9, 2020, Trump included Lagoa on a list of potential nominees to the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

. After the death of

on September 18, 2020, Lagoa was mentioned as one of several frontrunners to fill the vacancy created by Ginsburg's death. ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' reported that colleagues, friends, and scholars who have followed Lagoa's career describe her as "quiet and collegial, with shrewd political instincts." Her potential nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court was supported by a broad cross-section of Florida Republicans. Lagoa and her husband have built up "years of goodwill... in Florida's legal and political circles." Had she been successfully nominated, she would have been the first Supreme Court justice from Florida. On September 26, 2020, President Trump nominated

to the U.S. Supreme Court. Barrett was confirmed in October of that year.

Personal life

Lagoa is married to lawyer Paul C. Huck Jr., and her father-in-law is

United States District Judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

Paul Huck, a

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

appointee. Lagoa and her husband have three daughters, including a set of twins. Lagoa is a practicing

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

and cited

Catholic education Catholic education may refer to: * Catholic school, primary and secondary education organised by the Catholic Church or organisations affiliated with it * Catholic university, private university run by the Catholic Church or organisations affili ...

as instilling "an abiding faith in God that has grounded me and sustained me through the highs and lows of life."

References

External links

*
Circuit nomination page
from the

United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nominations ...

* This article incorporates text fro
Judge Lagoa's Third DCA Profile
a work of the

Florida government The government of Florida is established and operated according to the Constitution of Florida and is composed of three branches of government: the executive branch consisting of the governor of Florida and the other elected and appointed consti ...

and thus in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...

in the United States. , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Lagoa, Barbara 1967 births 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American women lawyers 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century American judges 21st-century American women lawyers 21st-century American women judges American Roman Catholics Columbia Law School alumni Federalist Society members Florida International University alumni Justices of the Florida Supreme Court Hispanic and Latino American judges Judges of the Florida District Courts of Appeal Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit Living people Lawyers from Miami United States court of appeals judges appointed by Donald Trump American judges of Cuban descent Latino conservatism in the United States