President Donald Trump has nominated Ron DeSantis-appointed Judge Anne-Leigh Gaylord Moe to fill a seat on the District Court for the Middle District of Florida. Ahead of Judge Moe’s confirmation hearings, Americans should take note of the following information:
Raised Through Conservative Legal Pipelines
Moe is a Federalist Society contributor.
Moe was appointed to be an appellate judge on Florida’s Thirteenth Judicial Circuit by then-Governor Rick Scott in 2017, where she served until 2024. In December 2024, Governor Ron DeSantis appointed her to be a judge on Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal.
Affiliation with Effort to Erode Church-State Separation
Between 2019-2023, Moe sat on the board of a Christian private school that, during her tenure, was the plaintiff in a lawsuit against the state seeking to legalize public prayers ahead of sports matches. The school was represented by the First Liberty Institute, a far-right legal group known for incubating the career of notable judge-shopping target Matthew Kacsmaryk, as well as for litigating numerous attempts to erode the separation between church and state, including a recent case that unsuccessfully sought to force states to fund religious charter schools with taxpayer dollars.
Alignment With Ballot Measure Suppression Efforts
In 2022, Moe struck down a county-wide ballot measure that would have funded a transportation and transit overhaul, claiming that its language “misleads the public” and would confuse voters. Moe’s ruling was overturned by a higher court, allowing the ballot measure to proceed.
In 2024, Moe moderated a Federalist Society panel on the judicial review of ballot measures in Florida ahead of contentious abortion rights and recreational marijuana ballot referendums. The panel included former Florida Supreme Court Justice Alan Lawson, who litigated an apparently politically motivated lawsuit seeking to block the abortion referendum ahead of the election.
Context: Florida Republicans, led by Governor DeSantis, have fought a political “war” against ballot measures, seeking to obstruct democratic efforts to constitutionally enshrine widely-supported civil rights, like abortion and voting rights. In May 2025, DeSantis approved a law that functionally “kills the [ballot measure] process for good,” which is being challenged in court.
DeSantis’ attempts to suppress ballot initiatives mirror those of conservatives around the country, particularly as Americans have sought to establish state protections for abortion in the wake of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
