Adam S. Tanenbaum

On January 14, 2026, Governor Ron DeSantis appointed Justice Adam S. Tanenbaum to be the 94th justice of the Supreme Court of Florida.

Justice Tanenbaum served on the First District Court of Appeal from 2019 to 2026 before joining the Supreme Court.

Prior to his appointment to the bench, Judge Tanenbaum served as general counsel for the Florida House of Representatives. In that position, he provided legal advice and counsel to the Speaker of the House and to House members and staff regarding matters of legislative interest. He also advised House members and senior staff regarding ethics laws, public records requirements, House rules, and issues requiring constitutional or statutory interpretation. He also had primary responsibility for handling litigation affecting the House. Previously, Judge Tanenbaum served as general counsel for the Florida Department of State and chief deputy solicitor general at the Florida Department of Legal Affairs. He moved with his family to Tallahassee from Tampa to serve in the solicitor general’s office.

While he has been at the court, Judge Tanenbaum has served on the Florida Court Education Council and the Florida Bar’s Appellate Court Rules Committee and Civil Standard Jury Instructions Committee. He also has served on the legislative and education committees for the Florida Conference of DCA Judges, and he frequently lectures on common-law writs, judicial power, remedies, and jurisdiction. He continues to teach as an adjunct professor at Florida State University College of Law, covering the nature of both legislative and judicial power and the relationship between courts and the Legislature. He previously has taught on the subject as an adjunct professor at University of Florida College of Law, and he taught complex litigation for two semesters as an adjunct at Stetson University College of Law.

In 1993 Judge Tanenbaum earned a bachelor of arts degree (major in political science and minor in economics), with honors (again, with an unweighted 4.00 GPA), from the University of Florida, where he was co-valedictorian; recognized with awards for Outstanding Male Leader and Four-Year Scholar; and inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, Florida Blue Key, and the UF Hall of Fame. He graduated cum laude with a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1996 and was selected to be his section’s commencement speaker. He started his legal career as a law clerk to then-U.S. District Judge Stanley Marcus in the Southern District of Florida.