DeSantis Disapproves of Florida’s New ‘leftist judge’

Photo of Governor Ron DeSantis (left) and Judge Embry J. Kidd (right). Photo by Ron DeSantis, Facebook | Senate Judiciary Committee, X

On November 18, Embry J. Kidd was officially appointed as the United States Circuit Judge for the Eleventh Circuit by the Senate in yea to nay votes of 49 to 45. On November 19, Governor Ron DeSantis expressed his disapproval on X.

DeSantis referred to Kidd as a “leftist judge” twice and blamed Republicans for not showing up to let Trump fill “the seat on the important 11th circuit”. Desantis added that Kidd will now have “a lifetime appointment and the people of FL, AL and GA will suffer the consequences”. 

Unlike DeSantis, in a press release dated November 18, United States Representative Kathy Castor (FL-14), “applauded the U.S. Senate’s vote to confirm Embry J. Kidd”. She also discussed how Kidd is known “for his fair and thoughtful approach” and “has presided over cases that have shaped the legal landscape in Florida and beyond”.

Castor added, “Forty judges have served on the court, but only three have been Black, despite the court’s rulings impacting…approximately nine million Black people across the Southeast”. As of 1979, “Judge Joseph Hatchett was…the first Black judge to be appointed to a federal appeals court in the Deep South”.

Now, Kidd is joining the ranks as one of the few black judges to have ever served in a Deep South federal appeals court, providing more representation for the millions of black people in the Southeast, as Castor pointed out.
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Article by Ema Tibbetts