Justice Tanenbaum pledges ‘undying and unflinching service’

Florida's newest Supreme Court justice promises to uphold the rule of law and protect the freedoms of Floridians

Former First District Court of Appeal Judge Adam Tanenbaum, lauded by one colleague as a “judicial liberator,” pledged “undying service,” and not to be outworked, during his ceremonial swearing in ceremony June 4 as Florida’s 94th Supreme Court justice.

“To you, my colleagues, and to my family and friends and the public, I pledge my undying and unflinching service to keeping this the free state of Florida,” he said.

With his wife, Whitney, and daughters Annabel and Emma-Claire at his side, Tanenbaum took the oath of office in a Supreme Court packed with friends, family, and colleagues.

Chief Justice Carlos Muñiz, referring to Tanenbaum’s conservative judicial philosophy, and eagerness to challenge precedent, quoted former Justice William Glenn Terrell, whose tenure from 1923 until 1964, made him Florida’s longest-serving justice.

“When it comes to a court correcting itself, ‘it’s better to eat crow than to perpetuate an error,’” Muñiz said. “It sounds like Justice Terrell would have approved of Justice Tanenbaum’s views of stare decisis.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis, in a brief video appearance, called Tanenbaum a “standout” on the First District Court Appeal, where Tanenbaum served since 2019. Desantis also lauded Tanenbaum’s embrace of judicial restraint.

“At the end of the day, he’s got the right philosophical foundation, he has the right interpretive approach, but he also has courage and a strong backbone to do what is right, even when it is not easy,” DeSantis said.

Florida Bar President Rosalyn Sia Baker-Barnes presented Tanenbaum with a commemorative Bible.

“I pray Justice Tanenbaum that this Bible provides you with the strength, the resilience, the courage, the support, the sustenance that you will need to make difficult decisions, complex decisions, but very important decisions for the people of our great state,” she said.

DeSantis appointed Tanenbaum to the Supreme Court January 14 to fill a vacancy created with the retirement of Justice Charles Canady. Tanenbaum and Canady share a distinction as having served in all three branches of state government.

Prior to the First DCA, Tanenbaum served variously as a general counsel to the Florida House of Representatives and Florida Department of State, and as chief deputy solicitor general for the Florida attorney general. Tanenbaum’s government service also includes stints as a state and federal public defender.

Ryan D. Newman, chief deputy attorney general, said Tanenbaum was appointed as much for his excellent legal credentials as his judicial philosophy and willingness to challenge the status quo.

The courts, especially the federal judiciary, have strayed too far from “natural law,” Newman said.

“The governor’s appointees were selected because he believed, as did I, that they share the same jurisprudential world view as the architects of our constitutional order, and that they would use their good offices at every opportunity to restore that worldview to a judiciary that has strayed far from it.”

Tanenbaum’s private sector experience included years, sometimes interrupted by periods of government service, with the 125-year-old Florida firm, Carlton Fields.

At the First DCA, Tanenbaum’s probing questions caused some litigants to complain, outside of his hearing, that they had been “Tanen-bombed,” quipped First DCA Judge Lori Rowe.

Tanenbaum quickly became a friend and leader on the court and earned the rare privilege of writing en banc opinions, Rowe said. His love of the law, work ethic, and intellectual honesty, will serve him well as a Supreme Court justice, she said.

“As a Floridian, if it were my life or liberty at stake, if it were my property rights at issue, the custody of my children to determine, there are few judges I would trust more to work harder to find the law, and endeavor to get it right, then Justice Tanenbaum.”

Veteran First DCA Judge Bradford Thomas called Tanenbaum a “legal liberator” for convincing him to question precedent when a prior decision appears to lack sound legal reasoning.

“Recently, a federal appeals court judge from the Fifth Circuit also criticized the prior precedent rule in the federal appellate courts,” Thomas said. “This is an idea that was started by Justice Adam Tanenbaum, it’s gathering momentum, it’s gathering steam.”

Tanenbaum closed the ceremony with a lengthy tribute to family members, friends, and mentors, many by name, before describing his judicial philosophy.

Quoting personal heroes as diverse as Cicero, Justice John Marshal, Justice Clarence Thomas, and Taylor Swift, Tanenbaum said he approached all of his jobs, “all 25 of them,” the same way.

“Always have the courage to challenge the established presumptions, to ask the tough 'why' questions, even to long established ways of doing things,” he said. “Always be willing to put in the effort to find the answers to those ‘why’ questions, and have the humility and intellectual honesty to follow the effort wherever it leads.”