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Inquiry Concerning Lauren Nichole Peffer

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Case Information
Case name Inquiry Concerning a Judge JQC No. 2025-001 re: Lauren Nichole Peffer[1]
Court Supreme Court of Florida[1]
Docket SC2025-0647; Judicial Qualifications Commission No. 2025-001[1]
Filed Original proceeding filing date not identified in the reviewed order.[1]
Judge(s) Couriel, C.J., Labarga, Grosshans and Barrios concur; Tanenbaum concurs in administrative disposition and dissents from costs judgment; Muñiz and Francis recused.[1]
Commission Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission (disciplinary proceeding)[1]
Respondent Lauren Nichole Peffer (respondent)[1]
Case type Judicial discipline involving reliance on a fabricated recording during a judicial campaign[1]
Claims / issues Failure to verify campaign claims and recording; Canon 7A(3)(b), Florida Code of Judicial Conduct[1]
Status October 9, 2026: 30-day suspension, $10,000 fine, public reprimand and costs ordered; costs amount remanded to JQC. Suspension effective date to be set by the circuit chief judge.[1]

Inquiry Concerning Lauren Nichole Peffer is a Florida judicial disciplinary proceeding concerning reliance on an unread book and a fabricated telephone recording during Peffer’s 2024 judicial campaign. The Florida Supreme Court ordered discipline on October 9, 2026.[1] Bloomberg Law identifies the recording as AI-generated.[2]

Findings and discipline

The court approved the Judicial Qualifications Commission hearing panel’s findings, conclusions and recommendations. Peffer had referred a newspaper interviewer to a book she had not read and supplied a recording purporting to capture a conversation involving Supreme Court justices and the Ninth Judicial Circuit chief judge. The court found that she failed to verify their accuracy, promoted false accusations and undermined confidence in the judiciary. She admitted violating Canon 7A(3)(b) while maintaining that the violation was unintentional.[1]

The court imposed a 30-day suspension and a $10,000 fine. Publication of the order provides the public reprimand. It ordered payment of proceeding costs and remanded to the Commission to determine the amount. The suspension’s effective date is to be set as soon as reasonable by the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit’s chief judge. Justice Tanenbaum agreed with the administrative disposition but dissented from the costs judgment; Justices Muñiz and Francis recused.[1]

References

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 Florida Supreme Court, Inquiry Concerning a Judge JQC No. 2025-001 re: Lauren Nichole Peffer, SC2025-0647, October 9, 2026 (3 pages); complete order reviewed October 9, 2026.
  2. ↑ Alex Ebert, Bloomberg Law, October 9, 2026; complete accessible article reviewed.
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