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Florida’s Code of Judicial Conduct states that judges “shall not use or permit the use of the prestige of judicial office for fundraising or membership solicitation.” In 2012, Florida’s Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee ruled that judges could not attend the dinners of organizations that are not committed to the improvement of the law, writing, “The judge’s presence at the gala dinner would be lending the prestige of the judge’s office to further advance the interests of the [in this case, religious] organization.”
Two jurists on Florida’s First District Court of Appeals—Judges Clay Roberts and Kemmerly Thomas—apparently never got the memo. They bought tables at a “Friends of NRA” fundraiser in Tallahassee on September 15, 2017. Funds raised by the event went directly to the NRA Foundation.
Judge Thomas claims she bought the table because the National Rifle Association sponsors “really good programs for young people.” She then called the impudent Florida lobbyist for the NRA, Marion Hammer, “extremely ethical.”
Please email the Florida Supreme Court Judicial Qualifications Commission at contact@floridajqc.com and give them the following message:
I am absolutely disgusted by the fact that Judges Clay Roberts and Kemmerly Thomas of the First District Court of Appeals sponsored tables at a “Friends of NRA” fundraiser in Tallahassee on September 15, 2017. The funds raised at this event went directly to the NRA Foundation. The judges’ sponsorship of this fundraiser clearly violates Florida’s Code of Judicial Conduct and rules established by the Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee. I am further disturbed by their actions given that the NRA has openly encouraged hatred and violence against journalists and Americans who oppose the current presidential administration. Please remove Judges Roberts and Thomas from the bench immediately.
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