Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has appointed the first Cuban-American female to the Florida Supreme Court naming appellate Judge Barbara Lagoa as a justice. She will be the first of three Supreme Court appointments the new governor will make, following the mandatory retirement of three justices who comprised what had been the court’s more liberal-leaning bloc. The 51-year-old Lagoa, grew up in Miami and attended New York’s Columbia Law School and was a federal prosecutor in Florida’s Southern District. Governor Jeb Bush appointed her to the 3rd District Court of Appeal in 2006, where she has served for more than 12 years.​