After three terms on the state Supreme Court, Justice Charles Canady is leaving the bench to accept a position at the University of Florida.
Canady, 71, will be a director and a tenured professor at UF’s Hamilton School for Classical and Civic Education.
A 1979 graduate of Yale Law School, he was elected to three terms in the state House of Representatives (1984-90) and four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives (1993-2001), where he sat on the Judiciary Committee and chaired the Subcommittee on the Constitution.
After serving as Gov. Jeb Bush’s general counsel, he was appointed to the 2nd District Court of Appeal in 2002 and to the state Supreme Court by Gov. Charlie Crist in 2008.
He was the state’s 54th chief justice from 2010–12 and was elected by his colleagues to serve again in 2018 and 2020.
Canady’s resignation means that six of the seven justices will have been appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis: Chief Justice Carlos Muñiz and Justices John Couriel, Jamie Grosshans, Renatha Francis and Meredith Sasso. Justice Jorge Labarga was appointed by Crist.