TAMPA — Hillsboro Circuit Judge Nancy Jacobs will step down from the bench at the end of May, she announced Friday a few weeks after the state’s disciplinary committee recommended she be resigned.
A committee of the Florida Judicial Qualifications Committee found Jacobs violated the judicial canon (the ethical rules running for the judges’ conduct and for the bench). The race, whose abortion rights became a major issue, featured hints of political partisanship, which is rare in Florida judicial contests.
The panel concluded that Jacobs’ actions made her unsuitable for office.
Her effective resignation on May 31 comes when the Florida Supreme Court weighs whether to adopt the panel’s recommendations.
“I put my integrity aside and my voice is steady,” Jacobs said in a statement Friday. “To serve as a judge has been one of the greatest honors of my professional life. I am not perfect, but I have always endeavored to support the Constitution, ensure equal justice under the law, and protect the rights of those who come to the court.”
The development holds back the legal and political odyssey that began three years ago when Tampa lawyer Jacobs challenged Smith.
Smith faced a flood of criticism after two members of the three judges’ appeals court panel found that they abused his discretion by denying the teenage girl permission to have an abortion without her parents’ consent.
The judicial race in Florida is nonpartisan and is usually modest, but the contest between Smith and Jacobs has become extraordinarily controversial, with abortion emerging as an important issue.
The flash point of the race came when a video surfaced in which Jacobs, a Jew, showed Smith at a church event where his wife, “I need Jesus” and “her heart is extremely difficult for God.” There have been allegations of anti-Semitism.
At the same time, comments posted on Jacobs’ Facebook page became a problem. Opposed to her reading, what was later cited in the suit “sends Judge Smith back to personal practices where his strict anti-abortion views can cause less harm.” Another declaration: “Judge Jared Smith! Vote for Nancy L. Jacobs again. We need to kick this scary guy out.”
Jacobs defeated Smith by 52% to 48% in the August 2022 election. A few months after Smith’s defeat, Gov. Ron DeSantis reappointed him to the newly created Sixth District Court of Appeals based in Polk County.
Meanwhile, Jacobs grew up on formal accusations of misconduct. In addition to her campaign-related statements, complaints against her allegedly claimed she had hired her lawyer Alicia Whiting Bozic to face fellow Robin Husson, whom she had had a difficult relationship with. She was said to have mentioned a lawyer who appeared in court as “fat, hair removal lawyer.”
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Jacobs acknowledged and apologised to some of the allegations against her. However, the panel discovers that she lacks regret.
After they recommended her removal, the Florida Supreme Court ordered her attorneys to show the cause of why they should not go along with their recommendations.
Jacobs resigned before the court imposed discipline.
“I’m working on the idea that people should not be silenced to speak out about the rule of law, civil liberties and the concerns of the people,” she said in a statement. “We’re grateful to the Hillsboro County voters for their thanks.”
