Kevin Emas v. Ron D. DeSantis

Summary

The Supreme Court of Florida denied Kevin Emas's petition for a writ of mandamus as moot because Governor Ron DeSantis had already made the appointment to the Third District Court of Appeal on July 10, 2026. The per curiam order contains no analysis of the merits. Justice Labarga concurred to emphasize that article V, section 11(c) of the Florida Constitution requires the Governor to make judicial appointments within sixty days after nominations are certified, and that the appointment in this case exceeded that deadline by more than 50 days. Justice Tanenbaum specially concurred to argue that the court lacks jurisdiction to issue a compulsory writ of mandamus against the Governor regarding his core appointment function, tracing a century of precedent supporting gubernatorial immunity from mandamus and criticizing the court's more recent departure from that principle without express overruling.