TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The longest-serving current member of the Florida Supreme Court, Justice Charles Canady, is leaving the bench to join the University of Florida as director of the Hamilton School for Classical and Civic Education.

Canady — whose wife, state Rep. Jennifer Canady, is in line to become state House speaker in 2028 — announced his departure Monday, calling it a “great privilege to serve the people of Florida as a justice” for the past 17 years.

“I will always deeply value my years on the court. But the time has come to move on to another position of public service,” Canady, 71, said in the statement, adding that he will begin as director and a tenured professor at the Hamilton School in 2026.

Canady’s departure will give Gov. Ron DeSantis — who has appointed five of the s

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