Justice Labarga is sworn in.

Jorge Labarga became Florida's 84th Supreme Court justice at an April 6 investiture in Tallahassee that drew heavily on his Cuban roots and the new justice's reverence for his parents, who taught him to love his adopted nation.

"As a young child, I watched my parents' dream of an American-style democracy for their beloved country turn into a living Marxist nightmare," Labarga said of his elderly parents, who were unable to make the trip to Tallahassee. "Thanks to the foresight of my parents, my brothers and I arrived in this great country 46 years ago when I was just about 10 years old."

"During his three decades as an attorney and circuit judge, Justice Labarga has proven his commitment to justice," Gov. Crist said of the 56-year-old native of Havana, Cuba, the second justice of Cuban descent to serve on the state's high court. "In serving the court since January, he has already demonstrated wisdom, humility, and compassion for people."

Crist noted his family also emigrated from an island nation--Cyprus--and could tell during the interview process that Labarga had "a tremendous love of freedom and justice."

Former partner Douglas Duncan of West Palm Beach recalled that in 1961, Castro's soldiers broke down the front door of the Labargas' Cuba home and ransacked it looking for his father--who had fortunately left two days earlier for Miami. Duncan said Mrs. Labarga and her sons remained in Cuba for two more years before escaping to Mexico in 1963. Another seven months would pass before the family was reunited in Miami. The Labargas finally settled in Pahokee, where his father continued working in sugar mills, as he had in Cuba.

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"The true story of Justice Labarga and his family is a wonderful story of a young boy and his family coming to America and living the American dream," said Duncan, noting Labarga entered fourth grade in Florida unable to speak English. However, Duncan said, Labarga mastered the language within six months.

Labarga, at times choked with emotion, praised his parents for teaching him and his siblings the importance of living in freedom.

"Children who were taught firsthand the beauty of our Constitution and form of government, and children who learned through the experiences of their parents what it is like to live without the basic guarantee of human rights afforded to every citizen of their country," Labarga said. "Having been tempered by these experiences, I bring to this great institution an...