INQUIRY CONCERNING 2022 429 2022 461 2022 502 COHEN v. << (2025)

In response to charges by the Judicial Qualifications Commission, Broward County Judge Mardi Levey Cohen has admitted that she engaged in conduct that violated the Code of Judicial Conduct during her 2022 reelection campaign. The Commission and Judge Levey Cohen agree that, as discipline, she should be suspended for 10 days without pay and publicly reprimanded. To that end, the parties have filed with our Court an Amended Stipulation and Amended Findings and Recommendations of Discipline. We accept the amended stipulation and findings and will impose the recommended discipline. See art. V, § 12(c)(1), Fla. Const. (authorizing the Court to accept, reject, or modify the Commission's findings and recommendations).

The charges involve two distinct acts of misconduct. First, after receiving an email from a person claiming to be a relative of Judge Levey Cohen's opponent in the 2022 campaign, the judge disseminated unverified information that accused the opponent of fraud. Second, to retaliate against a church where her opponent had campaigned, Judge Levey Cohen filed an Internal Revenue Service complaint challenging the church's tax-exempt status. She then sent the church a copy of the complaint with a false return address of “IRS EO Classification,” suggesting that the correspondence was from the IRS itself.

The Commission and Judge Levey Cohen agree that these actions violated Canons 1, 2A, 7A(3)(b), and 7A(3)(e)(ii) of the Code of Judicial Conduct. Those canons require judges always to conduct themselves in a manner that upholds the integrity of the judiciary, including when acting as a candidate for judicial office. Canon 7A(3)(e)(ii) in particular prohibits judicial candidates from knowingly misrepresenting facts about themselves or an opponent. We agree that the record supports the Commission's factual findings and legal conclusions.

That leaves the issue of discipline. Without minimizing the seriousness of Judge Levey Cohen's misconduct, the Commission found as mitigating circumstances that the judge admitted her misconduct, accepted responsibility, and cooperated with the Commission in all respects. We accept the Commission's evaluation of Judge Levey Cohen's responsiveness and contrition.

For all these reasons, we approve the Amended Stipulation and Amended Findings and Recommendations of Discipline in this matter. Judge Levey Cohen is hereby suspended from her judicial duties for 10 days, without pay, effective on a date within 30 days of the issuance of this opinion and as determined by the Chief Judge of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit. We further order Judge Levey Cohen to appear before this Court for the administration of a public reprimand at a time to be established by the Clerk of this Court.

It is so ordered.

NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE REHEARING MOTION AND, IF FILED, DETERMINED.

PER CURIAM.

MUÑIZ, C.J., and CANADY, LABARGA, COURIEL, GROSSHANS, FRANCIS, and SASSO, JJ., concur.