Early career After law school, Lagoa returned to Miami and entered private practice at the law firm
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. From 1998 to 2003, Lagoa was an associate at
Greenberg Traurig. In 2000, Lagoa was one of a dozen lawyers who mostly
pro bono represented the Miami family of
Elián González. In 2003, Lagoa became an
Assistant United States Attorney for the
Southern District of Florida, working in the Civil, Major Crimes, and Appellate Sections.
Florida Supreme Court Lagoa was appointed to the Third District Court of Appeal by Governor
Jeb Bush in June 2006 and became Chief Judge on January 1, 2019. On January 9, 2019, she was appointed to the Supreme Court of Florida by Governor
Ron DeSantis. She was the first Hispanic woman and the first Cuban-American woman to sit on the Florida Supreme Court. In April 2019, Lagoa wrote for the unanimous court when it found that DeSantis had acted within his authority by suspending Sheriff
Scott Israel for his response to the
Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. In November 2019, Lagoa participated in oral arguments concerning an
advisory opinion on whether the governor could require felons whom voters had re-enfranchised through
2018 Florida Amendment 4 to pay fines before being allowed to vote. Lagoa resigned her position when she was appointed to the
United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Federal judicial service On September 12, 2019, President
Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate Lagoa to a seat on the
United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. She was nominated to the seat being vacated by Judge
Stanley Marcus. On October 15, 2019, her nomination was sent to the Senate. On October 16, 2019, a hearing on her nomination was held before the
Senate Judiciary Committee. On November 7, 2019, her nomination was reported out of committee by an 18–4 vote. On November 19, 2019, the
Senate invoked
cloture on her nomination by an 80–15 vote, and on November 20, 2019, her nomination was confirmed by an 80–15 vote. She received her judicial commission on December 6, 2019. In July 2020, Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote directly to Lagoa to urge her to
recuse herself from a challenge to
felon disenfranchisement in Florida because of her earlier participation in a related matter on the Florida Supreme Court. In September 2020, Lagoa joined the majority when the
en banc circuit by a 6-4 vote upheld the constitutionality of the law that the Florida legislature had passed, which required re-enfranchised felons to pay all financial obligations, including fines, fees, and restitution before being allowed to vote. Lagoa joined Chief Judge
William H. Pryor Jr.'s majority opinion, joined Pryor's additional concurrence, and authored her own concurrence. In December 2022, Lagoa wrote the en banc court's majority opinion finding that a high school's bathroom policy, which separated bathrooms on the basis of biological sex, does not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment or Title IX. Lagoa separately wrote a special concurrence to "discuss the effect that a departure from a biological understanding of 'sex' under Title IX—i.e., equating 'sex' to 'gender identity' or 'transgender status'—would have on girls’ and women's rights and sports." Section 4(a)(1)-(3) makes it a crime in Alabama to "engage in or cause" the prescription or administration of puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones to individuals under the age of 19 "for the purpose of attempting to alter the appearance of or affirm the minor's perception of his or her gender or sex, if that appearance or perception is inconsistent with the minor's sex." In allowing the law to take effect, Lagoa found it unlikely that the Constitution protects an unenumerated right of parents to treat their children with transitioning medications. She also held that the law does not amount to sex discrimination.
Potential Supreme Court nomination On September 9, 2020, Trump included Lagoa on a list of
potential nominees to the
United States Supreme Court. After the death of
Ruth Bader Ginsburg on September 18, 2020, Lagoa was mentioned as one of several frontrunners to fill the vacancy created by Ginsburg's death.
The Washington Post reported that colleagues, friends, and scholars who have followed Lagoa's career describe her as "quiet and collegial, with shrewd political instincts." Barrett was confirmed in October of that year. == Personal life ==