Federal judicial service
On September 12,2019,President Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate Lagoa to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. [20] She was nominated to the seat being vacated by Judge Stanley Marcus. [21] On October 15,2019,her nomination was sent to the Senate. [22] On October 16,2019,a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. [23] On November 7,2019,her nomination was reported out of committee by an 18–4 vote. [24] On November 19,2019,the Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by an 80–15 vote, [25] and on November 20,2019,her nomination was confirmed by an 80–15 vote. [26] She received her judicial commission on December 6,2019. [27]
In July 2020,Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote directly to 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. [17] Lagoa and her fellow Judge Robert Luck declined to recuse themselves:"An objective,disinterested lay person,knowing that we asked questions in a different proceeding (advisory vs. case-and-controversy),in a different court (Florida Supreme Court vs. federal court),with different issues (interpreting the state constitution vs. federal constitutional questions),and with different participants (“interested persons”vs. parties),would not reasonably entertain a significant doubt about our impartiality in this case." [28] [29] In September 2020,Lagoa joined the majority when the en banc circuit by a 6-4 vote upheld the constitutionality of the law that the Florida legislature had passed,which required re-enfranchised felons to pay all financial obligations,including fines,fees,and restitution before being allowed to vote. [30] Lagoa joined Chief Judge William H. Pryor Jr.'s majority opinion,joined Pryor's additional concurrence,and authored her own concurrence. [31] [32]
In December 2022,Lagoa wrote the en banc court's majority opinion finding that a high school's bathroom policy,which separated bathrooms on the basis of biological sex,does not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment or Title IX. [33] Lagoa separately wrote a special concurrence to "discuss the effect that a departure from a biological understanding of 'sex' under Title IX—i.e.,equating 'sex' to 'gender identity' or 'transgender status'—would have on girls’and women's rights and sports." [33]
On August 21,2023,Lagoa authored an opinion vacating a district court's preliminary injunction and allowing section 4(a)(1)-(3) of Alabama's Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act to go into effect. [34] Section 4(a)(1)-(3) makes it a crime in Alabama to "engage in or cause" the prescription or administration of puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones to individuals under the age of 19 "for the purpose of attempting to alter the appearance of or affirm the minor's perception of his or her gender or sex,if that appearance or perception is inconsistent with the minor's sex." In allowing the law to take effect,Lagoa found it unlikely that the Constitution protects an unenumerated right of parents to treat their children with transitioning medications. She also held that the law does not amount to sex discrimination.
Potential Supreme Court nomination
On September 9,2020,Trump included Lagoa on a list of potential nominees to the United States Supreme Court. [35] After the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg on September 18,2020,Lagoa was mentioned as one of several frontrunners to fill the vacancy created by Ginsburg's death. [36] [37] [38]
The Washington Post reported that colleagues,friends,and scholars who have followed Lagoa's career describe her as "quiet and collegial,with shrewd political instincts." [39] Her potential nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court was supported by a broad cross-section of Florida Republicans. Lagoa and her husband have built up "years of goodwill... in Florida's legal and political circles." [39] Had she been successfully nominated,she would have been the first Supreme Court justice from Florida.
On September 26,2020,President Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court. [40] Barrett was confirmed in October of that year.
