TALLAHASSEE – An Orange County judge who last year asked a Black man in his courtroom if he ever “chopped cotton” and acted unprofessionally towards two public defenders won’t face a public reprimand, after the Florida Supreme Court opted not to punish him.
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The unanimous decision, released Thursday, didn’t give a reason for the ruling, but simply stated it rejected the recommendation of discipline from the Judicial Qualifications Commission of a public reprimand for Judge John Jordan III of the Ninth Circuit Court, which serves Orange and Osceola counties. The court also ordered the matter sent back to a disciplinary hearing panel for a final resolution.
In filings with the court in March, the JQC laid out the notice of disciplinary charges, detailing two incidents where Jordan violated the codes of judicial conduct and recommended a public reprimand.
One incident occurred July 28, 2025, when Jordan presided over a battery case involving a 33-year-old Black female defendant and was discussing possible punishment with her great-uncle. According to the court filing, he asked the defendant’s great-uncle, “Do you own any land where I could have her work it for 30 hours?”
“All my family’s farming. They’d love me out there. You ever—You ever chopped cotton before?” Jordan continued. “You know what that is? You take a hoe and you knock out the weeds. That’ll straighten you up real quick doing that stuff. All right. Well, no pulling weeds for your great-uncle then. So, let’s move on.”
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During an earlier incident in April 2025, Jordan repeatedly told two public defenders who complained he was rushing them during a jury selection proceeding to “shut up.” The public defenders noted his behavior was rude and motioned for a mistrial, which Jordan initially rejected but later abruptly declared a mistrial and said “we’ll get another judge for you.”
“I’m done. I’m not going to deal with this pettiness like this,” Jordan added.
“The comments in both cases above fall below the high standards of conduct and decorum required by the Canons, and constitute inappropriate conduct in violation of Canons 1, 2A, 3B(4) and 3B(5) of the Code of Judicial Conduct,” the filing states.
But the documents also noted Jordan had no prior disciplinary record, admitted his misconduct, expressed remorse and accepted the recommended public reprimand.
Jordan has been on the Ninth Circuit bench since 2011, when he was appointed by former Gov. Rick Scott, and he was automatically reelected in 2014 and 2020 when he ran unopposed. Before that he served as an Orange County judge since 2005.
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