Florida’s Chief Justice harkens Justice Scalia during Red Mass remarks

By Tom Tracy - Florida Catholic

FORT LAUDERDALE | At an annual Red Mass for the St. Thomas More Society of South Florida, Florida Supreme Court Justice Carlos Muñiz said it was the late Justice Antonin Scalia who best encapsulated the meaning and importance of the group’s namesake saint.

Saint Thomas More was a lawyer beheaded by King Henry VIII for refusing to transfer his allegiance from the pope to the king. The Red Mass is a historic Catholic Church tradition dating back to the 13th century, when it officially opened the term of the court for most European countries.

“Thinking of St. Thomas More in the context of events like this inevitably calls to mind Justice Antonin Scalia’s well-known ‘Two-Thomases’ speech which the justice delivered dozens of times to audiences around the country beginning in the 1990s,” said Justice Muñiz.

Appointed to the Florida Supreme Court by Gov. Ron DeSantis on Jan. 22, 2019, Justice Muñiz was the guest speaker at the Oct. 15 event during the group’s 33rd annual celebration at St. Anthony Parish in Fort Lauderdale.

Before he began studying law at Yale University, he attended a Knights of Columbus dinner at which Justice Scalia gave his St. Thomas More speech.

“Justice Scalia’s ‘Two-Thomases’ speech made a huge impression on me when I first heard it, and it has continued to have that effect each of the many times I have read it since. It was inspiring and exhilarating to hear one of my heroes, Justice Scalia, witness to our faith through a compelling and thought-provoking account of another even greater hero, St. Thomas More,” Justice Muñiz said.

As a graduate of the University of Virginia, Justice Muñiz said it was much to his chagrin that the “bad Thomas” in Justice Scalia’s legendary speech is Thomas Jefferson.

“The justice describes Jefferson’s project of excising from the Gospel the elements that he found merely superstitious and fabricated, including the virgin birth and Christ’s resurrection from the dead.”

“The resulting work, titled ‘The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth,’ portrays Our Lord as nothing more than an exemplary role model,” Justice Muñiz said.

In Justice Scalia’s words, Jefferson produced “a Gospel fit for the Age of Reason, or indeed for the wise of any age, including our own.”

Enter St. Thomas More, himself a great man of his time, and a towering figure in England and Renaissance Europe, Justice Muñiz noted.

“Justice Scalia explains that Thomas More went to his death ‘unsupported by intelligent society, by his friends and even by his own wife. More’s peers felt that way because More was sacrificing his life for a principle – papal authority over whether to bind or loose the marriage of King Henry VIII — that they found silly, and that More’s position made him a crank.’”

In historic contrast to Jefferson, St. Thomas More epitomized “an intelligent Christian appearing stupid to the world — A fool for Christ,” Justice Muñiz noted.

“Justice Scalia praised the saint's idea of seeing not with the eyes of men, but with the eyes of faith. And the Justice hoped to give his listeners – those already wise in Christ — the same courage.”

Prior to joining the Court, Justice Muñiz served on the staff of Secretary Betsy DeVos as the presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed general counsel of the United States Department of Education. In addition to working as an attorney in the federal government and in private practice, Justice Muñiz had an extensive career in Florida state government.

He served as the deputy attorney general and chief of staff to Attorney General Pam Bondi; as deputy chief of staff and counsel in the Office of the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives; as general counsel of the Department of Financial Services; and as deputy general counsel to Gov. Jeb Bush.

At the Red Mass gathering, Justice Muñiz said that St. Thomas More was his confirmation saint. “I have had a devotion to him since my youth and that devotion to him has continued to grow throughout my career as a lawyer and a judge.”

“I have an embarrassing number of Thomas More portraits and prints and statues and stuff in my office – he is somebody who has been a huge spiritual guide for me over my entire life,” Justice Muñiz added.

Justice Muñiz lives in Tallahassee with his wife, Katie Muñiz, and their three children. He grew up in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., and attended St. James Catholic School and Bishop Ireton High School.

Justice Scalia, he continued, stressed to private audiences not that reason and intellect must be laid aside where matters of religion are concerned, but to the contrary:

“Justice Scalia reminded his audience that a faith that has no rational basis is a false faith.”

“These are all messages that one cannot hear too often. I think all of us, not just lawyers and judges, would profit from any time spent reflecting on the life and example of Saint Thomas More,” Justice Muñiz said.

He added that another saintly “Thomas” bears remembrance, “one whose teachings our state and country desperately need – as you probably guessed I am referring to St. Thomas Aquinas,” Justice Muñiz added.

Justice Scalia was famous for insisting that there is no Catholic way of being a judge. “I am not sure if that is right; maybe it is. But I do believe there is a Catholic way to think about the law – a way of thinking that is exemplified in the work of St. Thomas Aquinas and that every American, Catholic or not, would do well to ponder.”

Founded in 1989, the St. Thomas More Society of South Florida is a Catholic association of the region’s legal community, including lawyers, judges, public officials and other law professionals dedicated to the advancement of the principles of St. Thomas More.

In addition, the Florida Catholic Conference and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops regularly engage in public policy issues and attempt to shape legislation that promotes the common good and protects the poor and the most vulnerable.

The St. Thomas More Society of South Florida was officially founded Dec. 14, 1989. A Red Mass was first celebrated in Fort Lauderdale, Broward County, by Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy on Feb. 10, 1990, at St. Anthony Catholic Church.

LOCAL JUDGE PRESENTED WITH 2025 ARCHBISHOP EDWARD A. MCCARTHY AWARD

A local judge who chairs the 17th Judicial Circuit Court’s Mental Health Task Force, serves on the executive board of the Florida Conference of Circuit Court Judges and serves on the Area Agency on Aging was recognized during the Red Mass banquet Oct. 15, 2025, in Fort Lauderdale.

Attorney David Braun, president of the St. Thomas More Society of South Florida, presented the society’s 2025 Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy Award to Judge Ari Abraham Porth.

The banquet followed the annual Red Mass for the St. Thomas More Society of South Florida.

According to his bio, after graduating from Northeastern University in Boston, Judge Porth served as a legislative aide to U.S. Sen. Bob Graham in Washington, D.C., where he corresponded with constituents and researched issues, including veterans affairs and drug policy on behalf of the senator.

Judge Porth moved back to South Florida to attend Nova Southeastern University School of law. After graduating, he served as an assistant state attorney for Broward County from 1995 to 2012.

From Nov. 2004 to Nov. 2012, Judge Porth served as state representative for Coral Springs, Tamarac, Lauderhill, Sunrise and North Lauderdale.

Most notably, he sponsored and passed landmark legislation mandating autism therapies be covered by certain health insurers and requesting the state’s pension system to divest from investments in Iran and Sudan.

According to a statement, Judge Porth sponsored and passed legislation that, “protects victims of domestic violence by allowing employee leave of absence; limits liability to restaurants that donate food to shelters; creates stricter background screenings for those who care for the most vulnerable; establishes a program within the Department of Juvenile Justice to help youth transition to successful adulthood; creates the state’s first public college prep boarding school for at-risk youth (formally known as the SEED School in Miami); raises the penalties for those that commit crimes against the homeless; and works on prison reform efforts, including reentry for nonviolent offenders.”