Rubio’s group recommends only two finalists for two U.S. judge openings in South Florida
A South Florida judicial group handpicked by Republican Sen. Marco Rubio has recommended only two finalists for two U.S. judge vacancies: Detra Shaw-Wilder, a partner with a prominent Miami law firm, and David Leibowitz, a former federal prosecutor and general counsel for his uncle Norman Braman’s auto empire.
Shaw-Wilder and Leibowitz beat out five other candidates vying for the coveted openings on the federal bench in the Southern District of Florida. All were interviewed Thursday by the Republican-dominated judicial advisory committee.
Of the seven candidates, Leibowitz stood out politically because his uncle, Braman, has been a major benefactor of Rubio’s career, contributing millions to his presidential campaign during the Republican primary in 2016. Leibowitz was said to be a potential federal judicial nominee in the Trump administration, but he was never nominated by then-President Donald Trump.
Detra-Shaw, a Black woman with the Miami law firm Kocyak Tropin Throckmorton, is less well known.
Now it will be up to President Joe Biden to pick from the short list of Rubio’s finalists and from a longer list of finalists recommended by a second nominating commission dominated by Democrats. That committee was appointed by U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and other Democratic congressional members from South Florida.
The House judicial commission recommended six finalists for the two judge openings: Shaw-Wilder, Federal Public Defender Michael Caruso, U.S. Magistrate Judge Shaniek Maynard, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Miguel de la O, Palm Beach Circuit Judge Samantha Feuer and Miami-Dade County Judge Ayana Harris.
The two federal judge seats became vacant after U.S. District Judges Federico Moreno and Ursula Ungaro assumed “senior status.” Ungaro retired from the bench earlier this year and went into private practice.
On a separate track, Rubio’s committee recommended three finalists for the U.S. Attorney’s Office job, all former federal prosecutors in private practice: Jacqueline Arango, Markenzy Lapointe and Andres Rivero.
Wasserman Schultz’s commission also picked three finalists: Arango, Lapointe and Michael Hantman, a partner with the high-profile Miami law firm Holland & Knight.
In addition, Rubio’s group recommended one candidate for U.S. Marshal in Florida: Gadyaces Serralta. Wasserman Schultz’s commission recommended two candidates: Serralta and Amos Rojas.
Rubio has already tipped his hand on one favorite for the region’s top federal prosecutor: The Miami Republican has said through his office that he supports Lapointe, a Haitian-American lawyer who served in the Marine Corps.
After Biden defeated Republican President Trump in November, South Florida Democrats in the House of Representatives, including Wasserman Schultz, took the unprecedented step of creating their own nominating commission — a role traditionally controlled by the state’s two senators because the U.S. Senate has the sole power to confirm presidential nominations.
South Florida congressional Democrats said the House commission wants a say in recommending candidates who reflect the state’s diversity.
Still, as Florida’s senior senator, Rubio, the Republican, wields tremendous power over the fate of a federal judicial nominee in Florida because he has the authority under Senate rules to allow or block that nominee from going through a confirmation hearing.
This story was originally published July 23, 2021 at 10:16 AM.
