Mark Blumstein Reprimanded

The Florida Supreme Court publicly reprimanded 11th Judicial Circuit Judge Mark Blumstein for using a photograph of himself in Navy uniform on campaign billboards during his 2022 re-election bid, without the disclaimer text required under Department of Defense rules governing military imagery in political advertising. The Judicial Qualifications Commission found the violation especially serious because it wasn't Blumstein's first: the Department of Defense had already specifically warned him after he used nearly identical uniformed billboards in his 2016 campaign, and he used the same improper imagery again in 2022 regardless.

Blumstein, who served more than 20 years in the Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps, stipulated to the violation and acknowledged the conduct was inappropriate. The Florida Supreme Court accepted the agreed public reprimand in a January 2023 order.

A first-time mistake about a federal disclaimer rule is one thing. Getting individually warned by the Navy's own legal corps and doing it again anyway, in a campaign for judicial office, is a judge choosing to keep an unearned credibility boost even after being told it was against the rules.