Judicial races operate under some pretty appalling rules that prevent most voters from having a real picture of who the candidate is, and who is backing them. Attorneys seem too scared to give any real information about incumbents. And the candidates seem to be bound by a lot of rules that keep them from actually saying much other than they will follow the law. That makes metadata about the candidates pretty important for the average voter. So here’s some metadata on Lee Marsh.

The ACLU recently sent out a mailer highlighting two salient facts. Marsh was appointed by Rick Scott and served as a lead attorney in the Department of Legal Affairs defending Florida under AG Pam Bondi. While it is claimed that these races, are nonpartisan, it doesn’t seem like you get appointed as circuit judge by the Rick Scott administration if you aren’t a party loyalist.

But looking deeper, there is more metadata about Marsh in his donor list:

Marsh received donations from Amber Nunnally and Benjamin Gibson, both of whom served as members of the First District Court of Appeal Judicial Nominating Commission and who worked for Shutts and Bowen – a firm with deep ties to the DeSantis administration. (The firm donated as well).

Marsh also received a maximum donation from Holtzman Vogel, a firm that is listed as a silver sponsor of Florida’s chapter of the Federalist Society.

Marsh received a $500 donation from Mohammad Jazil, a Holtzman Vogel attorney who has been deeply involved in the litigation surrounding the Desantis administration’s congressional redistricting. Jazil also strangely swooped into a recent case, filing a notice of appearance and then asking Marsh to recuse himself because of his campaign donation.

Marsh received donations from Alan Lawson (appointed to the Florida Supreme Court by Rick Scott) and Ricky Polston, another Republican appointed Florida Supreme Court justice.

Marsh appears to have received donations from several members of the Hawkes family, who have had two members of their family appointed as circuit judges in Tallahassee during the DeSantis administration.

While he has other donors, it doesn’t seem like these are the kind of contributors that lack confidence in where Marsh will land on things. Marsh claimed in the Tallahassee Democrat forum that he joined the Federalist Society briefly to “meet people,” but it seems like the Federalist Society and some big players tied to the DeSantis administration want to be tied to him.

The Democrat forum itself seemed heavily coded, with his opponent Rashad Green saying that he’d never been a member of the Federalist Society and that his favorite US Supreme Court Justice is Sonia Sotomayor.

Voters can do with this what they will, but it’s already hard enough to know much about judicial candidates even by trying. Maybe this will be helpful to someone with early voting starting soon.