Chairmen Jordan and Issa Ask Judicial Conference to Review  Conduct of Florida Federal Judge

On July 13, 2026, Judge Williams ordered sanctions against the plaintiffs' attorneys in connection with a case brought by President Donald Trump in his personal capacity against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for leaking his tax returns. From the publicly available information, Judge Williams's order appears to be an abuse of judicial authority and motivated by partisan animus.

Rather than resolve a potential question about sanctions using the parties' submissions alone, Judge Williams entertained an unsolicited motion from politicized nonparties who had no stake in the dispute, and ordered the plaintiffs to respond to it. These nonparties were represented in part by an activist attorney with a documented bias against President Trump who is now affiliated with a partisan organization that brags about its voluminous legal actions against the Trump Administration. 

The timing of Judge Williams's order is suspect, as her July 13 order was filed after the plaintiffs filed a notice of voluntary dismissal of the case, ending the dispute between the parties. In addition, the nonparties filed their motion on May 27, 2026—nine days after the plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed the case—and completed their briefing on June 19. Judge Williams issued her order on July 13, two days before then-Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's confirmation hearing in the Senate. Judge Williams unnecessarily maligned Attorney General Blanche in her order, which elected Democrats subsequently used against him during the confirmation hearing for political advantage.

Judge Williams also directed the clerk of court to mail a copy of the order to the State Bar of New York, where Attorney General Blanche is a member, and to the District of Columbia Bar, where Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward is a member, baselessly implying misconduct on their part. These circumstances are concerning not only because the sanctions were unusual, but also because they implicate the integrity and impartiality of the federal judiciary. The Code of Conduct for United States Judges requires a judge to avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all activities, to perform the duties of office fairly, impartially, and diligently, and to refrain from political activity.

The timing and posture of the July 13 order, the reliance on unsolicited information from politically motivated nonparties, and the direction that copies of the order be sent to the New York and D.C. bars raise questions whether Judge Williams complied with these ethical obligations.

Read the letter to Judge Conrad here.