14 Facts About Barbara Lagoa

Barbara Lagoa was born on November 2,1967 and is an American attorney and jurist serving as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

In 2020, Lagoa was a finalist to succeed Ruth Bader Ginsburg as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, which ultimately went to Amy Coney Barrett.

Barbara Lagoa grew up in the majority Cuban-American city of Hialeah, Florida.

Barbara Lagoa then attended Columbia Law School, where she was an associate editor of the Columbia Law Review.

From 1998 to 2003, Barbara Lagoa was an associate at Greenberg Traurig.

In 2000, Barbara Lagoa was one of a dozen lawyers who mostly pro bono represented the Miami family of Elian Gonzalez.

In 2003, Barbara Lagoa became an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, working in the Civil, Major Crimes, and Appellate Sections.

Barbara Lagoa was appointed to the Third District Court of Appeal by Governor Jeb Bush in June 2006 and became Chief Judge on January 1,2019.

Barbara Lagoa was the first Hispanic woman and the first Cuban-American woman to sit on the Florida Supreme Court.

In November 2019, Barbara Lagoa participated in oral arguments concerning an advisory opinion on whether the governor could require felons whom voters had re-enfranchised through 2018 Florida Amendment 4 to pay fines before being allowed to vote.

Barbara Lagoa resigned her position when she was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

Barbara Lagoa was nominated to the seat being vacated by Judge Stanley Marcus.

Barbara Lagoa received her judicial commission on December 6,2019.

In July 2020, Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote directly to Barbara Lagoa to urge her to recuse herself from a challenge to felon disenfranchisement in Florida because of her earlier participation in a related matter on the Florida Supreme Court.