Second Florida judge in 18 months faces sanction for improper Facebook activity

Florida judges are really bad at Facebook.

An Orlando-area judge has been suspended 30 days for violating Florida’s campaign rules in a Facebook post, just a few months after another area judge was to face trial for improper Facebook use.

Seminole County Judge Debra Krause was sanctioned Friday without pay after responding to criticisms aimed at her husband, who was himself running for circuit court judge, CBSMiami reported.

Krause called on her followers to “flood” the campaign site of her husband’s opponent, Susan Stacy. Stacy ended up winning.

This was the offending text, according to the Orlando Sentinel:

Susan Stacey [sic] is again misrepresenting. … to try and make Mitch look unethical and without integrity. Could you all take a minute and POST on Ms. Stacey’s [sic] campaign site that having ethics and integrity means TELLING THE TRUTH! Please post as soon as possible. I want to flood the post!

Florida rules state judges are barred from publicly endorsing or opposing another candidate. Krause argued her Facebook account was private, but as Lyrissa Lidsky, a professor and First Amendment expert at the Levin College of Law at the University of Florida, told the Sentinel, “Not only have courts said there’s no legal expectation of privacy for things you place on Facebook, but also common sense would tell you there’s no reasonable expectation of privacy.”

Krause is actually the second Seminole County judge to face scrutiny for a Facebook post in the past 18 months: A woman accused Judge Linda Schoonover of making her pay excessive alimony after she did not respond to Schoonover’s friend request. Schoonover resigned in May.

Rob covers business, economics and the environment for Fusion. He previously worked at Business Insider. He grew up in Chicago.