The Florida Supreme Court has officially turned away a legal request from a man named Walter Javier Arrazola Mendivil, calling his attempt to sue the state’s legal agency “strange.”
In a decision handed down on Thursday, May 21, 2026, the state’s highest court denied Mendivil’s petition for a writ of mandamus. A writ of mandamus is a special legal order used to force a government official or agency to perform a specific duty required by law. The court ruled that Mendivil simply did not prove he had a legal right to what he was asking for.
To finalize the decision, the court added that it will not consider any requests to reopen or rehear the case. Six of the court’s justices—Chief Justice Muñiz, along with Justices Labarga, Couriel, Grosshans, Francis, and Sasso—all agreed to deny the request based on past legal rules.
However, Justice Tanenbaum went a step further, writing a separate explanation on why the court rejected the paperwork. He pointed out that trying to get this kind of legal order against The Florida Bar makes no sense because the Bar actually answers directly to the Supreme Court itself.
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“To do so, essentially, is to ask this court to issue an extraordinary writ to itself,” Tanenbaum wrote. “The Florida Bar is a mere agency of this court, and its officers act only under this court’s authority.”
Tanenbaum also explained that legal licenses and certifications are privileges rather than automatic rights, meaning a writ of mandamus would never be the right tool to use. While the Supreme Court can force the Bar to follow rules whenever it wants, Tanenbaum noted that Mendivil failed to show that the Bar did anything wrong, warranting the court’s involvement.
The court paper was officially sent out to Mendivil and Joshua E. Doyle, who serves as the executive director of The Florida Bar.
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