Jorge Labarga
| Jorge Labarga | |
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| Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Florida | |
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Assumed office July 1, 2014 |
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| Preceded by | Ricky Polston |
| Justice of the Florida Supreme Court | |
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Assumed office January 6, 2009 |
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| Nominated by | Florida Judicial Nominating Commission |
| Appointed by | Charlie Crist |
| Preceded by | Harry Lee Anstead |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1952 (age 64–65) Havana, Cuba |
| Education | Forest Hill Community High School |
| Alma mater | University of Florida |
| Website | Florida Supreme Court Bio |
Jorge Labarga (born 1952) is a Justice of the Florida Supreme Court, taking office on January 6, 2009. On June 30, 2014, he was sworn in as Florida's 56th Chief Justice and the first Cuban-American to hold the post.
Labarga was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1952.
Labarga grew up and graduated high school in Pahokee, Florida, in the heavily agricultural Lake Okeechobee region of western Palm Beach County, and received his Bachelor's degree from the University of Florida. He also received his Juris Doctor from this institution in 1979. After law school he became an Assistant Public Defender. In 1996, Governor Lawton Chiles appointed him a Circuit Court Judge.
Previously, he was a Judge for the 15th Circuit Court in Palm Beach County, Florida, from 1996 until 2009. He is notable as the judge who refused a new vote during the 2000 U.S. Presidential election on the grounds that the Constitution stated that an election must be held everywhere in the United States on the same day, not just in one area.
Prior to his Supreme Court appointment, Labarga had been appointed by Governor Charlie Crist to the Fourth District Court of Appeal for Florida, an intermediate appellate court based in West Palm Beach, Florida. He served in that position only a single day, January 5, 2009. His term on that court was cut short when Governor Crist quickly elevated Labarga to the Florida Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice Harry Lee Anstead. On June 30, 2014, Larbarga was sworn in as the 56th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Florida, replacing former Chief Justice Ricky Polston. Labarga is the first person of Hispanic descent to lead the state of Florida's judicial branch.
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