Justia Legal Services & Lawyers Directory

Jason Gonzalez (born September 30, 1973) currently serves as General Counsel to Florida Governor Charlie Crist. [1] He was the chief advisor to Governor Crist on the appointment of four of the seven Justices currently serving on the Florida Supreme Court.

Jason Gonzalez was born in Tallahassee, Florida, the son of Larry Gonzalez (former Secretary of the Florida Department of Professional Regulations and Director of the Florida Commission on Ethics) and Jean Gonzalez. A seventh generation Floridian, Gonzalez is the great-great-grandson of Captain Manuel Gonzalez, who founded the City of Ft. Myers, Florida in 1866,[2] and the great-great-great-great-grandson of Evander Lee, who founded the City of Leesburg, Florida in 1857.[3] Gonzalez attended the University of Florida where he graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelors degree in Business Administration and a Juris Doctorate degree. He became an attorney and Florida Bar member in 1998. While in law school, he married his high school sweetheart Sara Hicks Gonzalez. Jason and Sara are the parents of three boys.

Legal Career

Following law school Gonzalez joined the Tallahassee firm of Ausley & McMullen, P.A. as an associate attorney. His practice consisted of trial and appellate litigation. He was named a shareholder in the Firm in 2003. Gonzalez served as special counsel to the Bush/Cheney 2004 Campaign. In 2006 he was named General Counsel to the Republican Party of Florida by Chairman Jim Greer. As General Counsel, Gonzalez served as chief lawyer and member of the Executive Board of the Republican Party. In 2007 Governor Charlie Crist appointed Gonzalez to the State Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Florida as an at-large member. Gonzalez served as President of the Tallahassee Chapter of the Federalist Society, a conservative law and public policy organization. In 2005-2006, Gonzalez represented the Institute for Justice before the Florida Supreme Court in the Bush v. Holmescase that considered the constitutionality of Florida's school voucher program.

Public Service

Judicial Nominating Commissions

In 2001 Gonzalez was appointed by Governor Jeb Bush to the Judicial Nominating Commission for the Second Circuit and served as Chairman of the Commission in 2003. In 2004 Governor Bush appointed Jason to the Judicial Nominating Commission for the Florida First District Court of Appeal, which he chaired in 2006. In 2007 Governor Charlie Crist appointed Gonzalez to the Judicial Nominating Commission for the Florida Supreme Court.

Throughout his service on the Judicial Nominating Commissions, Gonzalez was known as a staunch advocate of judicial restraint. In an article published in 2006, Gonzalez wrote that judges should follow an "originalist-textualist" approach in applying the law. [4] According to Gonzalez, Courts should faithfully apply the text of our Constitution and Statutes, interpreting the meaning of the text based on the common usage of the words at the time of enactment. [5] He uses the infamous case of Plessy v. Ferguson, establishing the separate but equal doctrine, as an example of harmful judicial activism where the Court departed from plain text of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. [6]

General Counsel to Governor Charlie Crist

Jason Gonzalez was appointed General Counsel to Florida Governor Charlie Crist in 2008. As General Counsel he is the chief advisor to the Governor on all legal matters and serves as the Governor’s Chief Ethics Officer and chief advisor on judicial appointments. In 2008-2009 Gonzalez was the chief advisor to Governor Crist on the appointments of four Florida Supreme Court Justices: Justice Charles Canady; Justice Ricky Polston; Justice Jorge Labarga; and Justice James Perry. The four appointments marked the first time in Florida history that a Governor appointed a majority of the Court in less than a year.[7]





References
^ Governor Crist Appoints Jason Gonzalez as General Counsel http://www.flgov.com/release/9870
^ History of Ft. Myers, Florida http://www.fortmyers-online.com/history.htm
^ History of Leesburg, Florida http://www.leesburgflorida.gov/history/index.aspx
^ Originalist-Textualist Jurisprudence : A Defense of Conservatives’ Views of the Courts; by Jason Gonzalez; The Journal of the James Madison Institute, p.25 (Summer 2006). http://www.jamesmadison.org/pdf/materials/497.pdf#page=27
^ Originalist-Textualist Jurisprudence : A Defense of Conservatives’ Views of the Courts; by Jason Gonzalez; The Journal of the James Madison Institute, p.25 (Summer 2006). http://www.jamesmadison.org/pdf/materials/497.pdf#page=27
^ Originalist-Textualist Jurisprudence : A Defense of Conservatives’ Views of the Courts; by Jason Gonzalez; The Journal of the James Madison Institute, p.25 (Summer 2006). http://www.jamesmadison.org/pdf/materials/497.pdf#page=31
^ Crist Will Reshape Supreme Court; The Lakeland Ledger; May 24, 2008. http://www.theledger.com/article/20080524/NEWS/805240445/1039
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