The US Department of Homeland Security's General Counsel, James Percival, has told the Florida Bar to scrutinise the 128 former judges who filed an ethics complaint against him, after the Bar declined to investigate his conduct. The dispute centres on Percival's "Worst of the Worst Judges" series, which criticised sitting judges over rulings on immigration and use-of-force policy, and which the former judges argued breached rules on public attacks against the judiciary. The row matters because it reflects a wider clash between the Trump administration and the judiciary over the limits of criticising judges' rulings, and raises questions about whether professional bodies can be used as tools in political disputes.

The Florida Bar said it does not investigate sitting officers appointed under the US Constitution while they remain in office, a stance Percival said the complainants should have anticipated. He accused the Bar members among the 128 signatories, led by former Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Peggy Quince, of pursuing a frivolous complaint for political ends, coining the term "Bar-fare" and likening it to the 2020 episode involving 51 former intelligence officials and Hunter Biden's laptop. The judges' 24-page complaint, filed by groups including the Democracy Defenders Fund, had focused on four judges featured in Percival's posts over cases involving Temporary Protected Status, Kilmar Ábrego García and DHS use-of-force rules.