Conservative attorney Chris Crowley, a decorated Gulf War veteran who ran for a state attorney position in Florida, is appealing a recommendation to suspend his law license for 60 days over speech he made during the campaign. His attorney, Scott Tozian, argued the appeal before the Florida Supreme Court last week.
A referee for the The Florida Bar recommended the suspension due to Crowley referring to his opponent Amira D. Fox, who eventually won the race for state attorney’s office in Florida’s 20th Judicial Circuit, as “corrupt” and “swampy” and for observing that she had “close family ties to the [Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)] terrorist organization.”
The referee said he violated R. Regul. Fl. Bar 4-8.2(a) of the Rules of Professional Conduct. That rule states, “A lawyer shall not make a statement that the lawyer knows to be false or with reckless disregard as to its truth or falsity concerning the qualifications or integrity of a judge, mediator, arbitrator, adjudicatory officer, public legal officer, juror or member of the venire, or candidate for election or appointment to judicial or legal office.”
Tozian said the rule was “facially unconstitutional” because it infringes on the First Amendment right to free speech. He stated that the Supreme Court established the standard for free speech in New York Times v. Sullivan. “They said that the public issues should be uninhibited, robust and wide open, and they may include vehement, caustic, sometimes unpleasant attacks on government and public officials,” Tozian said.
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