Governor Ron DeSantis announced a series of moves to fill vacancies in Florida’s court system on Wednesday, naming five new judges to seats in the state capital and South Florida.
The appointments draw heavily from the Florida Senate’s legal team and local prosecutors’ offices, filling spots created largely by recent legislative expansion.
In Tallahassee, the Governor looked to the legislature’s current and former counsel to staff the local courts. Jeremiah Hawkes was appointed to the Second Judicial Circuit Court. A double graduate of Florida State University, Hawkes served as General Counsel for the Florida Senate before moving to private practice as Senior Counsel for Bass, Sox, & Mercer in 2022.
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Joining the Leon County Court is Carlos Rey, who currently serves as the Senate’s General Counsel. Rey, who previously worked with the Florida Department of State, replaces Judge Jones following a recent elevation. Like Hawkes, Rey holds both his undergraduate and law degrees from Florida State University.
In South Florida, the Governor elevated Judge Cristina Correa from the Miami-Dade County Court to the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court. Correa has been on the county bench since 2020 and previously worked as an Assistant State Attorney.
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DeSantis also filled two seats on the Miami-Dade County Court. Jose Rohaidy, an Assistant State Attorney in the Eleventh Circuit since 2019, will move from the prosecutor’s table to the bench. He is joined by Jennifer Levin, a partner at the law firm Stone, Glass & Connolly, L.L.P.
Four of the five appointments—Hawkes, Correa, Rohaidy, and Levin—fill new judicial vacancies resulting from the enactment of Senate Bill 2508, a measure passed to address workload demands in the state’s judiciary.
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