After a five-year legal battle, a sharply divided federal appeals court Friday upheld a St. Johns County School Board policy that prevented a transgender male student from using boys’ bathrooms at a high school.

Portions of Florida election law are being reinstated by a federal appeals court while the state appeals a lower court’s decision that the law was aimed at suppressing Black voters.

President Donald Trumps deep imprint on the federal courts is a rare point of agreement about the president across the political spectrum. The three Supreme Court picks could still be on the court at the 21st century’s midpoint, 30 years from now. In Trump’s first two years, they pushed through 30 appellate court judges and 53 district court nominees. “You know, when I got in, we had over 100 federal judges that weren’t appointed," he said. That nominee was Stephen Breyer, now a Supreme Court justice.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Air Force One and President Donald Trump touched down Thursday in Jacksonville for a rally 40 days ahead of Election Day. “He (Trump) is a man of action, he is a deal maker and he gets things done,” Curry told the large crowd. “On Feb. 18, 2017, President Trump pulled me out of the crowd and I ran up on stage and hugged our president and he gave me the microphone and I spoke to the world. This, this is who our president is," said Gene Huber, referencing a shirt he was wearing showing Trump hugging him on stage during a rally. Trump’s Democratic opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, sent a statement in advance of the Jacksonville rally:

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, leaves the Senate Chamber following a vote, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Sept. 21, 2020. But under GOP planning, the Senate could vote Oct. 29. No court nominee in U.S. history has been considered so close to a presidential election. Elsewhere, as tributes poured in for Ginsburg with vigils and flowers at the court’s steps, Democrats led by presidential nominee Joe Biden vowed a tough fight. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska for opposing a Senate vote before elections.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida-born Barbara Lagoa is one of four or five women President Donald Trump is considering for the U.S. Supreme Court. Flags were at half staff Monday at the Florida Supreme Court where one of Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s possible successors once served. In 2006, then-Governor Jeb Bush tapped Barbara Lagoa to serve on the Third District Court of Appeal. Nine months later, President Trump nominated Lagoa for an opening on the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. Based on our research, if nominated, Barbara Lagoa would be the only Florida-born person ever nominated for the nation’s highest court.

Circuit Judge Barbara Lagoa, of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, is shown in this official undated photo released by the Florida Supreme Court. So she’s got a lot of things — very smart,” Trump said in a call-in interview with “Fox and Friends.”Asked whether politics would play a role in the decision, Trump responded: “I try not to say so. Circuit Court of Appeals. Before that, for less than a year she was a justice on the Florida Supreme Court after more than a decade on a Miami-based state appeals court where she wrote some 360 opinions. She was the first woman of Hispanic heritage on the state Supreme Court.

Trump said he expects to announce his pick by week’s end, before the burial of Ginsburg, the court's liberal icon, at Arlington National Cemetery. Up until now, the race has been largely a referendum on how Trump has managed or mismanaged the COVID-19 pandemic. Conversations in the White House and McConnell’s office have been increasingly focused on Barrett and Lagoa, according to a person granted anonymity to discuss the private deliberations. Trump said he is planning to name his pick by Friday or Saturday, ahead of the first presidential election debate. He gave a nod to another election battleground state, Michigan, and White House officials confirmed he was referring to Joan Larsen, a federal appeals court judge there.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - With justices Barbara Lagoa and Robert Luck nominated for seats on a federal appeals court, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday he could be able to appoint two new Florida Supreme Court justices in early 2020. DeSantis appointed Lagoa, Luck and Justice Carlos Muniz in January to fill three vacancies on the Supreme Court, and President Donald Trump then nominated Lagoa and Luck for seats on the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. If they are confirmed to the appeals court, a state nominating commission then would provide names of potential Supreme Court replacements to DeSantis. DeSantis, who took office in January, also pointed to the unusual situation of being able to make five Supreme Court appointments in little more than a year.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Just months after joining the Florida Supreme Court, Justice Barbara Lagoa and Justice Robert Luck have been picked by President Donald Trump to serve on a federal appeals court, Gov. The governor appointed the pair to the Florida Supreme Court shortly after he took office in January. I appointed these two justices to the Florida Supreme Court for their demonstrated understanding of the Constitution and the appropriate role of the judiciary. They will serve our nation well.The Florida Supreme Court received official word of the nominations Thursday afternoon, court spokesman Craig Waters said. Jeb Bush appointed Lagoa to the 3rd District Court of Appeal in 2006, and she had served as chief judge of the court before her appointment to the Supreme Court.