Why I'm voting no on retaining Justice Carlos Muñiz

Muñiz has consistently aligned with a specific conservative political network — especially Gov. DeSantis, who appointed him — and his record backs that up.

Redistricting: As Chief Justice, he authored the opinion upholding DeSantis's congressional map, which eliminated a North Florida district that had protected Black voters' representation, despite a 63% voter-approved amendment meant to prevent exactly that [1]. He also dismissed a challenge to DeSantis's 2025 push to redraw districts again before the midterms [2].

Sexual assault/Title IX: Before the bench, he was the lead attorney defending FSU against Erica Kinsman's rape accusation against Jameis Winston (FSU paid $950,000 to settle) [3]. He then became DOE General Counsel under Betsy DeVos, where he helped draft the rollback of Obama-era Title IX protections — adding cross-examination requirements and narrowing what counts as harassment, changes survivor advocates said would discourage reporting [4][5].

On the bench: He's been part of a reliably conservative supermajority — writing pro-tobacco-defendant precedent (Justice Labarga was the lone dissent) [6], joining the court in upholding DeSantis's suspension of an elected reform prosecutor [7], and joining the reversal of decades-old abortion precedent [8]. I found no instance of him breaking from that bloc or ruling against DeSantis's interests.

Bottom line: He calls himself a neutral textualist, but his actual record — defending institutions over survivors, rolling back Title IX protections, and consistently siding with the governor who appointed him — doesn't match that claim on the issues I care about most.

Sources

WLRN, "Florida Supreme Court upholds DeSantis-backed congressional redistricting plan" — https://www.wlrn.org/government-politics/2025-07-17/florida-supreme-court-upholds-desantis-backed-congressional-redistricting-plan

WLRN, "Florida Supreme Court blocks challenge to Gov. DeSantis' redistricting push" — https://www.wlrn.org/government-politics/2026-03-02/florida-supreme-court-blocks-challenge-to-gov-desantis-redistricting-push

NBC Miami, "Gov. DeSantis picks Trump administration official Carlos Muñiz for Florida Supreme Court" — https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/gov-desantis-picks-trump-administration-official-carlos-muniz-for-florida-supreme-court/4210/

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Senate floor statement opposing Muñiz's DOE nomination — https://www.gillibrand.senate.gov/news/press/release/senator-gillibrand-speaks-on-senate-floor-to-oppose-carlos-munizs-nomination-for-general-counsel-at-the-department-of-education/

Ballotpedia, "Carlos Muñiz" (career/DOE timeline) — https://ballotpedia.org/Carlos_Mu%C3%B1iz

Florida Bulldog, "Politics and Florida's Supreme Court: The remarkable rise of the next chief justice" — https://floridabulldog.org/2022/04/politics-and-floridas-supreme-court-the-remarkable-rise-of-the-next-chief-justice

Brennan Center for Justice, "Florida Supreme Court Allows DeSantis to Undermine Prosecutorial Independence" — https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/florida-supreme-court-allows-desantis-undermine-prosecutorial

Yahoo News/originally state press, "With arguments coming this week, a look at anti-abortion views of some Florida justices" — https://news.yahoo.com/arguments-coming-week-look-anti-100000627.html