Robert Joshua Luck (born March 17, 1979) is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as a

United States circuit judge In the United States, federal judges are judges who serve on courts established under Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. They include the chief justice and the associate justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, the circuit judges of the U.S. ...

of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (in case citations, 11th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the following U.S. district courts: * Middle District of Alabama * Northern District of Alabama * ...

and was formerly a justice of the Florida Supreme Court. A Miami native, he has previously served as an Assistant United States Attorney and as a judge on the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court of Florida and then the Florida Third District Court of Appeal.

Background

Luck was born on March 17, 1979, to a Jewish family in

South Miami South Miami is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida in the Miami metropolitan area. The population was 11,657 at the 2010 census and as of 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, was 11,911. South Miami's central business district is directl ...

, Florida. He grew up in North Miami Beach. After high school, Luck studied

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

, graduating in 2000 with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree with highest honors. He worked as a legislative correspondent for U.S. senators

Paul Coverdell Paul Douglas Coverdell (January 20, 1939 – July 18, 2000) was an American politician who served as a United States senator from Georgia, elected for the first time in 1992 and re-elected in 1998, and director of the Peace Corps from 1989 until ...

and Jon Kyl from 2000 to 2001, then attended the University of Florida's

Fredric G. Levin College of Law The University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law (UF Law) is the law school of the University of Florida located in Gainesville, Florida. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest operating public law school in Florida, and second oldest overall ...

, where he was editor-in-chief of the '' Florida Law Review''. He graduated in 2004 with a Juris Doctor '' magna cum laude'' and

Order of the Coif The Order of the Coif is an honor society for United States law school graduates. The name is a reference to the ancient English order of advocates, the serjeants-at-law, whose courtroom attire included a coif—a white lawn or silk skullcap, whi ...

membership. Luck was a law clerk for judge Edward Earl Carnes of the Eleventh Circuit from 2004 to 2005. He spent a year in private practice at the law firm

Greenberg Traurig Greenberg Traurig is a multinational law firm founded in Miami in 1967. As of 2022, the Greenberg Traurig is the 9th largest law firm in the United States. The firm has 43 offices in the United States, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and ...

, then returned to Carnes's chambers to work as a staff attorney and law clerk from 2006 to 2008. In 2008, he returned to Miami as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida.

Judicial career

State judicial service

He was appointed to the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court of Florida in June 2013 by Rick Scott. He was later appointed to the Florida Third District Court of Appeal in March 2017, where he served as a judge. On January 14, 2019, Governor

Ron DeSantis Ronald Dion DeSantis (; born September 14, 1978) is an American politician serving as the 46th governor of Florida since January 2019. A member of the Republican Party, DeSantis represented Florida's 6th district in the U.S. House of Repres ...

selected Luck to be a Justice on the Supreme Court of Florida. He resigned from the court after being appointed to the Eleventh Circuit.

Federal judicial service

On September 12, 2019, President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

announced his intent to nominate Luck to a seat on the

."President Donald J. Trump Announces Judicial Nominees" White House, September 12, 2019
On October 15, 2019, his nomination was sent to the Senate. President Trump nominated Luck to the seat being vacated by Judge Gerald Bard Tjoflat, who had previously announced his intention to assume

senior status Senior status is a form of semi- retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at leas ...

on a date to be determined. Luck was unanimously rated well-qualified by the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of aca ...

for the appellate position. On October 16, 2019, a hearing on his nomination was held before the

Senate Judiciary Committee The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nominations ...

. On November 7, 2019, his nomination was reported out of committee by a 16–6 vote. On November 18, 2019, the Senate invoked

cloture Cloture (, also ), closure or, informally, a guillotine, is a motion or process in parliamentary procedure aimed at bringing debate to a quick end. The cloture procedure originated in the French National Assembly, from which the name is taken. ' ...

by a 61–30 vote. On November 19, 2019, the Senate confirmed his nomination by a 64–31 vote. He received his judicial commission the same day.

References

External links