Lenore Carrero Nesbitt (July 19, 1932 – October 6, 2001) was a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

of the

United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida The United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida (in case citations, S.D. Fla. or S.D. Fl.) is the federal United States district court with territorial jurisdiction over the southern part of the state of Florida. Appeals ...

Education and career

Nesbitt was born in

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. She received an

Associate of Arts An associate degree or associate's degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of academic qualification above a high school diploma and below a bachelor's degree ...

degree from

Stephens College Stephens College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Timeline of women's colleges in the United States#First and oldest, the second-oldest women's educa ...

in 1952. She received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree from

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

in 1954. She received a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

from the

University of Miami School of Law The University of Miami School of Law (Miami Law or UM Law) is the law school of the University of Miami, a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. Founded in 1926, it is the oldest law school in South Florida, graduating its first ...

in 1957. She was a

research assistant A research assistant (RA) is a researcher employed, often on a temporary contract, by a university, research institute, or privately held organization to provide assistance in academic or private research endeavors. Research assistants work under ...

for the

Florida First District Court of Appeal The Florida First District Court of Appeal, also known as the First DCA, is headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida, the state capital. It is unique among the six Florida District Courts of Appeal in that, much like the United States Court of Appeal ...

Tallahassee Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of and the only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2024, the est ...

from 1957 to 1959. She was in private practice of law in Miami from 1960 to 1963. She was a special assistant state attorney general of the State of Florida from 1961 to 1963. She was a research assistant for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida in Dade County from 1963 to 1965. She returned to private practice in Miami from 1969 to 1975. She was a counsel for the Florida State Board of Medical Examiners from 1970 to 1971.

State Circuit Court

Nesbitt was a judge of the Circuit Court of Florida, Eleventh Judicial Circuit from 1975 to 1982. In Miami, she heard pre-trial motions in the cases of eight Miami Officers accused of the murder of

Arthur McDuffie The 1980 Miami riots (also called the Arthur McDuffie riots) were race riots that occurred in Miami, Florida, starting in earnest on May 18, 1980, following an all-White male jury acquitting five white Dade County Public Safety Department offi ...

and of its coverup. There, she dismissed the case against William Hanlon.McDuffie: The Case Behind Miami’s Riots
''Southern Changes'', Patrice Gaines-Carter, 1980. Retrieved June 13, 2022. and she moved the case to Tampa where the final three officers were found not guilty by jurors.

Federal judicial service

Nesbitt was nominated by President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

on October 31, 1983, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge C. Clyde Atkins. She was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

on November 15, 1983, and received commission on November 16, 1983. She assumed senior status on July 19, 1998. Her service was terminated on October 6, 2001, due to her death from complications of

brain cancer A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign (non-cance ...

Coral Gables Coral Gables is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The city is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida and is located southwest of Downtown Miami. As of the 2020 U.S. census, it had a population of 49,248. Cora ...

, Florida.

Other service and honors

Nesbitt served on the University of Miami

board of trustees A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

. She was inducted into the Florida Women's Hall of Fame in 2001. The Lenore Carrero Nesbitt Public Service Scholarship was established at the University of Miami School of Law in her honor.

Personal

Her husband Joseph Nesbitt was a judge on the

Florida Third District Court of Appeal The Florida Third District Court of Appeal is headquartered in Miami, Florida. Its ten judges have jurisdiction over cases arising from Miami-Dade County, Miami-Dade and Monroe County, Florida, Monroe Counties. History The Third District Court ...

References

Sources

External links

Profile
from the Florida Women's Hall of Fame {{DEFAULTSORT:Nesbitt, Lenore Carrero 1932 births 2001 deaths Stephens College alumni Northwestern University alumni University of Miami School of Law alumni Hispanic and Latino American judges Judges of the Florida District Courts of Appeal Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida United States district court judges appointed by Ronald Reagan 20th-century American women judges Hispanic and Latino American lawyers