With the recent appointment of Duval County Judge Anthony Salem to the 4th Judicial Circuit Court, there is a vacancy on the Duval County Court bench.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has directed the 4th Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission to provide him with qualified nominees for the vacancy. Complete unredacted and redacted applications must be sent before 5 p.m. April 30 to Jacob A. Brown, 50 N. Laura St., Suite 3100, Jacksonville, FL 32202.
PDF versions of redacted and unredacted applications, including a digital photograph, also must be sent via e-mail to [email protected].
Application forms may be downloaded from The Florida Bar’s website at floridabar.org or the Office of the Governor at flgov.com.
Interviews will be conducted May 15.
Following a procedure used by the 1st District Court of Appeal Judicial Nominating Commission, the 4th Circuit commission intends to interview only those applicants that have not interviewed with the commission for the past three vacancies this year.
Despite the change in procedure, the commission will not eliminate any applicant from consideration by virtue of their not being interviewed for this vacancy.
The commission provides previous applicants not being interviewed May 15 the opportunity to submit a statement updating the commission on anything about themselves and their work experience since their last interview. Statements are limited to 1,000 words and must be received by 5 p.m. May 11 to be considered. The statements should be sent to [email protected].
Neither incomplete applications nor applications submitted after the deadline will be considered. Further, all applicants must meet the qualifications for judges outlined in Article V, Section 8 of the Florida Constitution.
Personal information not subject to public disclosure should be redacted on a separate copy of the application as permitted by Section 119.071 of the Florida Statutes.
To assist the commission, all questions on the application must be fully and completely answered. Applications must include current contact information (especially direct phone numbers), including e-mail addresses for judges, co-counsel, opposing counsel and references to facilitate the background investigation that will be conducted by the members of the commission.
All proceedings of the commission are open to the public except for deliberations. Accordingly, applicants should not expect that their application be kept confidential. If an applicant is nominated, all materials attached to the original application will be submitted to DeSantis’s Office.
Questions about the application process can be sent to Brown. Applicants shall not initiate contact with the commissioners until the nominees are submitted to DeSantis unless questions pertain only to the application process.