- November 7, 2024
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Judge Scott DuPont, who was recently re-elected to his position as a Sevent Circuit Court judge, is facing an investigative panel over allegations made on one of his campaign websites about his challenger, Malcolm Anthony, and statements DuPont made at a televised candidate forum.
The Investigative Panel of the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission voted Oct. 28 to find that probable cause exists for proceedings against DuPont on five charges.
The first charge alleges that DuPont’s campaign website linked to the results of an instantcheckmate.com search about Anthony. Instantcheckmate.com posts a disclaimer stating that its information may not be accurate. But, according to the formal notice of charges addressed to DuPont and filed Nov. 23, “in spite of those warnings ... you recklessly posted the results of the search.” The entries, all unverified, suggested that Anthony had used aliases and received parking tickets for parking in a handicapped zone, and that Anthony’s wife and daughter had been arrested.
The second charge states that DuPont had improperly implied that Anthony had changed his name in 2013 or later, when the name change had in fact been completed in 1990.
The third charge states that DuPont, at a televised candidate forum, falsely alleged that Anthony had gotten a ticket for passing a school bus unloading children.
The fourth charge alleges that DuPont, in the same forum, alleged that Anthony had cheated during a straw poll, when in fact DuPont had no information that Anthony was involved in the alleged incident.
The fifth charge states that DuPont said at the forum that it wasn’t the role of a circuit court judge to determine the constitutionality of statutes, and that he’d stated that he’d previously refused to find statutes unconstitutional. In fact, the notice of charges states, DuPont had sworn to uphold the
Constitution of the United States and of the State of Florida, and his conduct, if proved, violates portions of both the Code of Judicial Conduct and the Florida Constitution. DuPont has 20 days from the Nov. 23 filing date to respond.
