The Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a proposed agreement in a disciplinary case involving a Broward County judge and ordered a hearing before the state Judicial Qualifications Commission.
The Supreme Court did not explain its reasons for rejecting the agreement, known as a stipulation, which would have led to a public reprimand for Judge Mardi Levey Cohen. An investigative panel of the commission and Levey Cohen reached the agreement, which was sent to the Supreme Court in July.
The Supreme Court has ultimate disciplinary authority over judges.
The case stems from Levey Cohen’s actions during a 2022 re-election campaign. A document filed at the Supreme Court said Levey Cohen was accused, in part, of forwarding an email iabout her opponent to a representative of the Wynmoor Condominium Democratic Club and did not “take sufficient steps to corroborate or verify the information contained in the email.”
The information, for example, included an accusation that Levey Cohen’s opponent obtained money from the federal Paycheck Protection Program during the COVID-19 pandemic when she did not qualify.
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