Suspended Circuit Judge Scott Dupont qualified to challenge sitting Circuit Judge Rose Marie Preddy. Now, the incumbent questions whether someone suspended by the Florida Bar less than five years ago can even run.
Preddy filed a lawsuit against DuPont in Leon County and against state and local elections officials, asserting DuPont can't serve.
The suit comes six years after the Florida Supreme Court removed DuPont after his campaign published untrue allegations about a political opponents' family. But Preddy's case focused on the fact that the Florida Bar suspended DuPont afterward and didn't get reinstated as a member until June 30, 2020.
The Florida Constitution states no one is eligible to be a circuit judge "unless the person is, and has been for the preceding five years, a member of the bar of Florida."
"A candidate for office who has been suspended from the practice of law is therefore not a 'member of the bar of Florida' during the period of suspension for purposes of eligibility to hold an office requiring Florida Bar membership," the lawsuit states.
Voters in Florida's 7th Judicial Circuit, which covers Flagler, Putnam, St. Johns and Volusia counties, will decide who holds the Group 11 spot on the bench in an Aug. 20 nonpartisan election. Attorneys for Preddy hope to have the case resolved before ballots go out.
Both Preddy and DuPont qualified for the seat last week.
Preddy, previously the owner of Preddy Law Firm in St. Johns, was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to fill a vacancy after Circuit Judge Margaret Hudson's retirement in 2023.
Dupont was a circuit judgeship in 2010, and was re-elected in 2016 over challenger Malcolm Anthony. But he was removed two years later in part because he had incorrectly alleged Anthony's wife and daughter had been arrested. He defeated Anthony with more than 62% of the vote.
At the time of the suspension, DuPont said he did not know that information was false, according to reporting at the time by the Florida Times-Union.
Supreme Court justices also said DuPont had once held a first appearance hearing without waiting for counsel to be present in order to accommodate a campaign schedule.
The suspension from the bench also led to disciplinary proceedings with the Florida Bar, and the Florida Supreme Court in 2019 approved a 91-day suspension. He wasn't reinstated until mid-2020. That means he hasn't been a bar member for a five-year continuous period, nor will he pass that threshold before the winner of the current judicial race takes office later this year.
DuPont addressed some of his prior problems in a 78-minute campaign video on YouTube.
"Honesty you know, I may not have been a perfect judge but I was a faithful judge," he said, "and even though mistakes were made along the way, I left every division better than I found it."
He also said after his suspension he briefly moved to Virginia and gave up the legal profession.
"There's nothing wrong with doing lawn care, but going from being an attorney and being a judge to lawn care was the most humbling experience at that time that I had been through," he said.
Preddy's lawsuit suggests none of that changes her assertion that DuPont cannot legally serve right now.
Her lawsuit points to legal precedent, including a decision that disqualified Beverly McCallum as a State Attorney candidate in 2020.
Attorneys for Preddy want courts to expedite the case with an election pending in less than four months. If DuPont is disqualified from the ballot, Preddy will automatically win re-election without opposition.
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