Florida Chief Justice Jorge Labarga today announced his three appointments to the Constitution Revision Commission, which is created every 20 years to review the Florida Constitution and make proposals directly to voters.
Labarga’s appointments are Hank Coxe of Jacksonville, Arthenia Joyner of Tampa and Roberto Martinez of Coral Gables.
“I looked not only for people skilled in the law, but also for those who have a breadth of knowledge about all the functions of government and its impact upon the everyday lives of everyday people,’’ the chief justice said.
More than 70 people contacted the Court to request appointment to the CRC. Under the Florida Constitution, the chief justice appoints three of the 37 commissioners. Labarga made his appointments with the advice of the other six members of the Supreme Court:
- Coxe, a Jacksonville attorney who specializes in federal and state criminal matters, has served as president of The Florida Bar. He has also served on the Judicial Qualifications Commission, which is the constitutionally created board that receives and investigates allegations of judicial misconduct. He served on the Florida Supreme Court Innocence Commission and the Judicial Nominating Commissions for the Fourth Judicial Circuit as well as the First District Court of Appeal.
- Joyner, a Tampa attorney, represented her community in the Legislature for 16 years, first in the Florida House and then in the Florida Senate. She was a student participant in the first civil rights demonstration in Tampa, part of the effort to desegregate department store lunch counters. A few years later, as a student at Florida A&M University, she was part of the demonstrations seeking to desegregate the city’s movie theaters and churches.
- Martinez, a Coral Gables attorney, has served in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in South Florida, first as an assistant U.S. attorney and then, later, as the U.S. Attorney. He has a record of active service in education, both in his home county of Miami-Dade and also on a state level, serving as a member of the state Board of Education for several years. He served as a member of the Florida Taxation and Budget Commission in 2007-08 and chaired the commission’s Government Services subcommittee.
For more details on the appointees, click here.
