Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has elevated Palm Beach Circuit Judge Edward Artau to the Fourth District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach.

Artau will replace Fourth DCA Judge Carole Taylor, who retired March 31. The court hears appeals from Broward, Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River and Okeechobee counties.

Artau works in Palm Beach Circuit's juvenile division, and has sat as an associate judge of the Fourth DCA by special designation.

The jurist's parents fled to the U.S. to escape tyranny in Cuba, according to DeSantis' press release on the appointment.

Gov. Rick Scott appointed Artau to the lower court bench in December 2014.

Before that, the judge had worked 10 years as general counsel and senior litigator for the South Florida Water Management District. His legal career began at Hodgson Russ in 1988, and he went on to become a senior attorney at Proskauer Rose and a partner at Marks & Artau.

Artau holds a bachelor's degree from Nova Southeastern University and a law degree from Georgetown University.

Without Taylor, Artau's appointment means the appellate court will have no black judges for the first time since 1994, when Judge Matthew Stevenson rose to the bench. The nominees did include black judges — one of whom was Judge Renatha Francis, who was instead elevated to the Florida Supreme Court.

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