PANAMA CITY — All pending cases before a federal judge in Gainesville, Pensacola, Tallahassee and Panama City have been reassigned to alternate judges, according to federal court documents.
Cases docketed for Judge John Richard Smoak Jr., of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, will be reassigned to other judges following an order Friday from chief U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers.
Pending cases in the Gainesville division will be reassigned to Judge Mark E. Walker, a judge in the Pensacola division; and all pending cases filed in Tallahassee and Panama City to Judge Mark E. Walker and Judge Robert L. Hinkle, according to court documents.
Officials within the U.S. District Court did not immediately return several requests for comment Monday. However, Smoak is an Article III federal judge, which means he is appointed by the president for life, during “good behavior.”
Smoak joined the court in 2005 after being nominated by President George W. Bush.
Born in Columbus, Georgia, Smoak graduated from the United States Military Academy, West Point, with his bachelor’s degree in 1965 and later graduated from the University of Florida College of Law with his Juris Doctor, J.D. degree in 1972.
Smoak was a private practice attorney in the state of Florida from 1973 to 2005. Prior to that, he served on active duty in the U.S. Army from 1965 to 1970.
On the recommendation of then-Sen. Mel Martinez, Smoak was nominated to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida on June 8, 2005, to a seat vacated by Clyde Vinson, as Vinson assumed senior status.
Smoak ruled on significant free speech cases. In 2008 in Gillman v. Holmes County School District, Smoak ruled that students of public school have the right to wear gay pride T-shirts and pins. This ruling came after a Florida principal suspended many students for wearing such items. Smoak also ordered the school to notify, in writing, all high school and middle school students that they possessed this right.