Justice Charles Canady, who has served on the Florida Supreme Court since 2008, will leave the court to take up a leadership position at the University of Florida at the start of 2026.
Canady released a statement about his impending career change on Monday, saying he was looking forward to serving as the director, as well as a tenured professor, at UF’s Hamilton School for Classical and Civil Education.
“It has been my great privilege to serve the people of Florida as a justice of the Supreme Court for the last 17 years,” Canady said in his statement. “I will always deeply value my years on the court. But the time has come to move on to another position of public service.”
He also expressed thanks to UF Board of Trustees Chairman Mori Hosseini and the university’s interim president, Don Landry, for the teaching opportunity at the school, which emphasizes ideas aimed at sustaining a free society through a classical, liberal arts education.
The announcement comes as Canady’s wife, state Rep. Jennifer Canady (R-Lakeland), is scheduled to become speaker of Florida’s House of Representatives during the 2028 session.
“It’s no surprise, of course, that Canady is stepping down now, given that he is 71 (and would have been forced to step down when he turns 75),” Robert Jarvis, a law professor at Nova Southeastern University, told the Florida Record in an email. “... And, like many other recent retiring Florida politicians, he’s going into a plum job in academia.”
Canady, a former three-term member of Congress who served from January 1995 to January 2001, became general counsel for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and was later appointed by former Gov. Charlie Crist to the high court in 2008. During his 17 years on the bench, he served as chief justice three times, in 2010, 2018 and again for a third term in 2020.
“... I think this will push the court even further to the right,” Jarvis said, “as six of the seven justices will now be (Gov. Ron) DeSantis appointees.”
It would be difficult to find a Florida governor who has had a greater impact on the Supreme Court than DeSantis, he said.
“Of course, the court already is hard right, so from a practical standpoint I don’t think Canady’s departure will make a lot of difference in most cases,” Jarvis went on to say.
Canady’s legacy will be one of a conservative justice who could sometimes offer surprises, such as when he voted to allow Amendments 3 (recreational marijuana legalization) and 4 (abortion rights initiative) on the 2024 statewide ballot, he said.
“Canady also will be remembered for guiding the court through COVID-19, which was a difficult assignment and which he handled, all things considered, reasonably well,” Jarvis said.
The retiring justice also served in the Florida House of Representatives for three terms beginning in 1984, and he worked for private law firms for more than a decade, according to his biography.
Canady has not yet submitted his official resignation to the governor and so remains a member of the court. Once the resignation becomes official, a Judicial Nomination Committee will interview candidates and recommend a list of nominees to DeSantis, who will make the final determination about who will replace Canady.
