Judge Lauren Peffer
A Broward County judge has denied charges by the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission that she violated judicial canons during her 2024 campaign by “perpetuating a false perception of illegal, unethical or immoral conduct” by members of the judicial branch.
Judge Lauren Peffer filed her answer to the commission’s Notice of Formal Charges on June 13 after the panel pointed to statements she made during an endorsement interview with the South Florida Sun Sentinel. The commission noted that Peffer had brought up recent revelations about “an image crisis within Florida’s judiciary” and told the newspaper’s editorial board about a recent book by a terminated employee of the Ninth Judicial Circuit that criticized the judicial system.
The e-book in question, titled “The Ninth Circus Court of Florida, My 30-Year Job from Hell!” lampooned the judicial circuit and several of its judicial officers, according to the commission. It also contained “gratuitous profanity” and a list of more than 1,300 synonyms for the word “sex.”
In addition, the book was associated with a website containing what turned out to be a bogus recording involving the circuit’s chief judge, Lisa Munyon, and members of the Florida Supreme Court. The call was likely the work of artificial intelligence, according to the commission.
Peffer not only made reference to the book, which accused judicial officers of corruption and incompetence, but she also provided the editorial board with a link to the fabricated phone call without determining the accuracy of the sources, according to the commission.
“You did not exercise due diligence to determine the reasonableness of the former Ninth Judicial Circuit employee’s claims before using them to help your campaign,” the commission said in its May 9 Notice of Charges. “You cited the e-book to the editorial board as your only example of the judiciary’s image crisis despite not having read any of it.”
The commission also noted that prior to the incident, Peffer received judicial election training.
“You were taught not to engage in conduct unless it will ‘promote public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary,’ and ‘[t]o be ethical, you have to be willing to lose,’ the panel said. “You ignored these admonitions by relying on the contents of the former Ninth Judicial Circuit employee’s e-book and the fabricated recording of a conversation which any reasonable person would deem inauthentic.”
But Peffer denied she violated the Code of Judicial Conduct or ignored training she received from the Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee. During the newspaper endorsement process, she said the challenges facing the judicial system in Broward County were assuring and promoting trust and confidence, equity and fair treatment, and public awareness and education.
“Judge Peffer did not intend to promote the validity of the book but instead, she intended to point to the book as an example of criticism of the judiciary,” the response filed with the commission states. “... Judge Peffer had not carefully listened to the call but had a recollection that the judiciary was being criticized in the recording. Judge Peffer acknowledges that she should have more carefully listened to the recording before referencing it in her answers to the editorial board.”
Peffer also denied that she helped “to facilitate the former Ninth Judicial Circuit employee’s farce which perpetuated a false perception and harmed the reputation of the judiciary,” as the commission alleged.
Neither Peffer nor her attorney, Scott K. Tozian, responded to a request for comment about the panel’s allegations.
Peffer won her election in August of last year over challenger Emilio “Emi” Benitez by a margin of 52.5% to 47.5%. Previously, she worked as an animal advocate and in the field of animal law, and she gained endorsements from police, firefighters and public educators.
