Charles T. Canady | |
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Justice of the Florida Supreme Court | |
Assumed office September 8, 2008 |
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Preceded by | Raoul Cantero |
Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court | |
In office July 1, 2010 – June 30, 2012 |
|
Preceded by | Peggy Quince |
Succeeded by | Ricky Polston |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 12th district |
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In office January 3, 1993 – January 3, 2001 |
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Preceded by | Tom Lewis |
Succeeded by | Adam Putnam |
Personal details | |
Born |
Charles Terrance Canady June 22, 1954 Lakeland, Florida, U.S. |
Political party |
Democratic (Before 1989) Republican (1989–present) |
Education |
Haverford College (BA) Yale University (JD) |
Website | Official website |
Charles Terrance Canady (born June 22, 1954) is a Justice of the Supreme Court of Florida having previously served as Chief Justice from July 1, 2010 until June 30, 2012. Canady has been a Justice on the court since taking his seat in 2008. He was a judge on the Florida Second District Court of Appeal from 2002 to 2008 and a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1993 to 2001.
Born in Lakeland, Florida, Canady graduated with a B.A. from Haverford College in 1976 and a J.D. from Yale Law School in 1979. He was admitted to the bar the same year and began his practice in Lakeland. In 1983, he was hired as the legal counsel for the Central Florida Regional Planning Commission. From 1984 to 1990, Canady served as a member of the Florida House of Representatives, initially elected as a conservative Democrat, he switched parties in June 1989. The change created many hard feelings as it happened after he accepted Democratic money for his re-election campaign. He ran for the Florida State Senate in 1990, but was unsuccessful.
In 1992, Canady made a successful bid for the U.S. House of Representatives, narrowly defeating his Democratic opponent Tom Mims. In Congress, Canady was credited for coining the term "partial-birth abortion" while developing the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 1995. According to Keri Folmar, the lawyer responsible for the bill's language, the term was developed in early 1995 in a meeting among herself, Canady and National Right to Life Committee lobbyist Douglas Johnson. Canady could not find this particular abortion practice named in any medical textbook and therefore he and his aides named it. He was one of the managers appointed to conduct the impeachment proceedings of President Bill Clinton. He did not seek re-election to a fifth term in 2000, keeping a term limits pledge he made in 1992.