BARBARA LAGOA

A federal appeals court ruled Florida did not violate the Constitution by making students use bathrooms according to their biological sex.

A sharply divided federal appeals court Friday upheld a Florida school district's policy that prevented a transgender male student from using boys’ bathrooms at a high school.

"He's readying himself for a national run, if it's in 2024 or later. And he's a very dangerous individual," historian Ruth Ben Ghiat said of DeSantis.

A set of changes to voting practices in Florida, called "racist" by a lower court judge, can take effect after all, an appeals court rules.

A federal appeals court on Friday overruled a judge who struck down much of Florida’s controversial 2021 election law, allowing the provisions to go into effect while a lawsuit makes its way through the courts.

President Donald Trumps deep imprint on the federal courts is a rare point of agreement about the president across the political spectrum. The three Supreme Court picks could still be on the court at the 21st century’s midpoint, 30 years from now. In Trump’s first two years, they pushed through 30 appellate court judges and 53 district court nominees. “You know, when I got in, we had over 100 federal judges that weren’t appointed," he said. That nominee was Stephen Breyer, now a Supreme Court justice.

Republicans are expecting President Donald Trump to announce Saturday that he is nominating Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court as he aims to put a historic stamp on the high court just weeks before the election. For Trump, it will provide a much-needed political assist as he tries to fire up his base. Senate Republicans are readying for confirmation hearings in two weeks, with a vote in the full chamber now expected before Election Day. Barrett, of Indiana, was at the White House at least twice this week, including for a Monday meeting with Trump. The staunch conservative’s 2017 appeals court confirmation on a party-line vote included allegations that Democrats were attacking her Catholic faith.

But under GOP planning, the Senate could vote Oct. 29. No court nominee in U.S. history has been considered so close to a presidential election. During a private lunch meeting Tuesday at Senate GOP campaign headquarters, several Republican senators spoke up in favor of voting before the election. Elsewhere, as tributes poured in for Ginsburg with vigils and flowers at the court’s steps, Democrats led by presidential nominee Joe Biden vowed a tough fight. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska for opposing a Senate vote before elections.

Circuit Judge Barbara Lagoa, of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, is shown in this official undated photo released by the Florida Supreme Court. So she’s got a lot of things — very smart,” Trump said in a call-in interview with “Fox and Friends.”Asked whether politics would play a role in the decision, Trump responded: “I try not to say so. At 52, Lagoa would become the youngest member of the U.S. Supreme Court if nominated and confirmed. Before that, for less than a year she was a justice on the Florida Supreme Court after more than a decade on a Miami-based state appeals court where she wrote some 360 opinions. She was the first woman of Hispanic heritage on the state Supreme Court.

MIAMI – President Donald Trump said Monday that he is considering a Cuban-American federal appellate court judge from Miami as one of five candidates to fill the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s vacancy. Ginsburg, who served in the Supreme Court for 27 years, died on Friday of complications with pancreatic cancer. Jeb Bush appointed her to the Third District Court of Appeal about three years later. Ron DeSantis appointed her as the first Latina Justice of the Supreme Court of Florida last year. Judge Barbara Lagoa speaks to reporters after being introduced as a Florida Supreme Court nominee at the Freedom Tower in downtown Miami, Jan. 9, 2019.

Up until now, the race has been largely a referendum on how Trump has managed or mismanaged the COVID-19 pandemic. Conversations in the White House and McConnell’s office have been increasingly focused on Barrett and Lagoa, according to a person granted anonymity to discuss the private deliberations. An appellate court judge, Barrett was a strong contender for the seat that eventually went to Brett Kavanaugh in 2018. Trump said he is planning to name his pick by Friday or Saturday, ahead of the first presidential election debate. He gave a nod to another election battleground state, Michigan, and White House officials confirmed he was referring to Joan Larsen, a federal appeals court judge there.

On Saturday, the Washington Post reported that among Trump’s favorites to replace Ginsburg is Barbara Lagoa, a Cuban-American from Miami who served on the Florida Supreme Court for most of 2019 before being appointed by Trump to the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. DeSantis appointed her to the state’s highest court after he was elected governor in 2018.