DeSantis Did Fill Vacant Judgeship Before Deadline, Despite ACLU Lawsuit

By Jay Waagmeester, Florida Phoenix

August 11, 2025

Gov. Ron DeSantis did appoint a state trial judge on time, contrary to a complaint filed with the Florida Supreme Court last week by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The ACLU had urged the justices Friday to order DeSantis to fill the Eighth Judicial Circuit Court judgeship, which the state still listed as vacant at the time despite the constitutionally mandated window to fill it having elapsed.

Not so, lawyers for the state declared in a legal pleading filed later on Friday.

“Petitioner confidently asserts that the Governor 'has refused to perform his duty to fill a vacancy on the Eighth Judicial Circuit Court’ by the constitutionally mandated deadline of August 3, 2025. … This is false,” DeSantis’ attorneys wrote, stating that the governor had appointed Alachua County Court Judge Kristine Van Vorst to the circuit court on Aug. 1.

Accompanying DeSantis’ response to the ACLU was his letter of that date informing Van Vorst of her appointment.

The ACLU, suing on behalf of Gary Edinger, a resident of the judicial circuit, pointed out that DeSantis’ office had not responded to its inquiries about the vacancy’s status before it filed suit against the governor, nor did it publish a news release announcing the appointment.

“Florida’s Constitution requires our government to operate in the sunshine, not in secret,” they wrote in their notice of voluntary dismissal of the case, filed Monday.

As of this publication, the letter appointing Van Vorst had not been published on the governor’s appointments website, although the position was marked as filled.

A Phoenix check of the governor’s judicial appointment page last week, after the Aug. 1 appointment, showed that the spot was vacant.

“Despite making the at-issue appointment eight days ago, the Governor chose not to announce his action until after business hours a week later, only after Petitioner filed suit. Nor did the Governor’s counsel respond to the undersigned counsel’s repeated pre-filing inquiries about whether the appointment was made,” the plaintiff’s attorneys wrote.

The circuit covers Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Gilchrist, Levy, and Union counties.

The difference between an appointment before or after Aug. 18 would’ve been the difference between the new judge’s first election happening in 2026 or 2028, the ACLU contended, potentially giving the appointee an “extra two unlawful years” to serve, the initial motion filed last week argued.

Primary elections are scheduled for Aug. 18, 2026. Per the Constitution, appointees don’t need to stand in an election happening less than a year from the date of appointment.

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