In H.S., v. Department of Children and Families, (FL App., April 3, 2024), a Florida appellate court in a 2-1 decision ordered a trial judge to recuse herself from hearing a case in which a father is challenging the Florida Department of Children and Families' removal of a child from the father's custody. DCF contends that the father, who is a Christian minister and youth pastor, is abusive toward the child because he does not support the child's gender transition. The appeals court concluded that:
Here, the father's fear that he cannot receive a fair and impartial hearing before the trial judge is well-grounded and objectively reasonable....
To an objectively reasonable person, the trial judge's pre-hearing remarks were antagonistic to the father and his right to direct the child's upbringing and moral or religious training. Those remarks when taken together—referring to the child by female pseudonyms, telling the child that "you are one smart, strong[,] [t]ogether, young lady," and to "[c]hin up, sister"—implied a foregone conclusion, before hearing the father's motion, that the trial judge was supportive of the child's gender transition before adulthood and opposed to the father's reliance upon his moral or religious beliefs to otherwise direct the child's upbringing.
Furthermore, the trial judge's in-camera interaction with the child went beyond mere attempts to establish a rapport with the child.,,, [T]he trial judge verbally expressed an inclination—again, before hearing the father's motion—to order the father to submit to "professional help," "counseling," or "guidance" from DCF in an effort to change his moral or religious beliefs.
Judge May dissented, saying in part:
Here, the trial judge's attempt to speak with a child in a manner that put the child at ease does not demonstrate the judge's predisposition of the pending issue. In fact, trial judges often take special care to speak with children to ensure they are comfortable in court proceedings; the decision to do so is within a trial judge's discretion.
Volokh Conspiracy has more on the case.
