Overview
- The complaint was filed with the Florida Bar on Aug. 20, 2026 by 128 retired federal and state judges together with the Democracy Defenders Fund and Lawyers Defending American Democracy.
- Complainants say Percival’s July 23 'Worst of the Worst, District Judge Edition' thread named four sitting federal judges and mischaracterized their rulings in violation of Florida Rule of Professional Conduct 4-8.2(a), which bars false or recklessly false statements about a judge’s integrity.
- The filing cites U.S. Marshals Service data showing hundreds of threats against federal judges in fiscal 2026 to argue that public denunciations by a senior DHS lawyer increase risks to judges and their families.
- DHS told Bloomberg Law that Percival’s posts were a factual review of decisions, and Percival has not retracted the tweets; he responded to the complaint on social media by mocking it and creating a satirical award.
- If the Florida Bar opens a formal disciplinary file it could investigate possible sanctions, a process that historically results in formal discipline in only a minority of complaints, and the case highlights a wider partisan pattern of using bar complaints in disputes over judicial criticism.