OH, GOODIE

Judge Who Blocked Teen’s Abortion Wants to Be a Florida Supreme Court Justice

Judge Jared Smith lost a re-election campaign after he denied a 17-year-old girl an abortion, citing her 2.0 GPA.

A judge in Florida who denied a teenager an abortion over her poor grades in school—and then later lost a re-election over the issue—is back, this time jockeying to be the next justice on the Florida Supreme Court. The Tampa Bay Times reported that Jared Smith is one of several wannabe justices on a shortlist drawn up by the Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission, which said Tuesday it would interview Smith and 14 other candidates in early May. The commission will then make recommendations to Gov. Ron DeSantis, a noted fan of Smith’s who lifted him out of humiliating electoral defeat last year by appointing him to the 6th District Court of Appeals. The state’s highest court is expected to hear arguments in a lawsuit over an abortion ban after 15 weeks of pregnancy, one of the state legislature’s most controversial measures passed after the fall of Roe v. Wade.