FLORIDA SUPREME COURT NEWS
Ceremonial Chief Justice Office Celebrates the Supreme Court and its Justices
C
hief Justice Carlos Muñiz was happy to stay in his office after being elected to his twoyear term by his colleagues on the Florida Supreme Court in 2022. He chose to remain, with his legal staff, in the offices he occupied before being elevated to the new position. He did not move into the larger suite of offices
reserved for the Chief Justice at the front of the building, but instead transformed the space into a celebration of the Supreme Court itself and all the current members. The Ceremonial Chief Justice Office now provides a central position of honor reserved for one of the Court’s most treasured artifacts owned by the Florida Supreme Court Historical Society. The result is a new highlight on certain building tours with groups whose presence would not disrupt the active work on the fourth floor of the Supreme Court. The centerpiece of the ceremonial office is the workspace once owned by Justice James Bryan Whitfield and donated to the Society by Talbot “Sandy” D’Alemberte, his great-nephew. The distinctive Wooton rotary, double pedestal roll-top desk was used by Whitfield, one of the Court’s longest-serving justices, from 1904 to 1943. The display is fitting for the Chief Justice office, as Whitfield served three terms as Chief Justice. His most widely known opinion, Montgomery v. State, is a 1908 ruling that found it unlawful to exclude prospective jurors because they were black. The Chief Justice office also features items representing all the current members of the Supreme Court. Photos from the investitures of every member of the Court, other artifacts and documents from the Court’s history, and interesting details of the building’s construction make the Ceremonial Chief Justice Office a trove of interesting material.
TOP The distinctive Wooton roll-top desk is the centerpiece of the ceremonial Chief Justice's office. ABOVE An additional interesting historical
feature in the Chief Justice’s office are the six color depictions of the evolutions of Florida’s Seal. The collection starts on the left with the territorial seal used in the late 1830s and 1840s, next to the seal used around the time of Statehood, followed by the first official state seal designed and approved by the Florida Legislature in 1868, then the two revised versions up to the currently used state seal adopted in 1985.
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HISTORICAL REVIEW
WINTER 2023
