Lagoa’s Resume Recalls Conservative Regret Over O’Connor, Souter

Barbara Lagoa—mentioned as a possible replacement for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the U.S. Supreme Court—would become the first justice in three decades to arrive with experience as a state court judge. That resume is both a blessing and a curse.

Lagoa joined the Atlanta-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit last December after 13 years as a Florida state court judge. She served on the state’s Supreme Court for nearly a year, with most of her tenure on the state bench as an intermediate appellate court judge.

Her background would make Lagoa an anomaly on the nation’s ...