Candidate Profile: Temika Hampton-Johnson

Temika Hampton-Johnson, 48, has spent her life in public service. She’s worked as a military police officer in the United States Army Reserve; a correctional probation specialist with the State of Florida; a public defender with the Second Circuit Public Defender's Office; a labor union advocate and managing attorney of her own Orlando law firm.   

Now she wants to bring that experience to the bench. 

Hampton-Johnson is running in the Aug. 18 primary against local attorney Charles Hart and incumbent Ninth Judicial Circuit Court Judge Mikaela Nix for a seat on the Group 1 bench. Circuit Court judges serve for six years and earn $196,898 annually.

Hampton-Johnson told VoxPopuli that her experience in law enforcement and criminal defense has provided a unique look at the justice system through multiple perspectives. 

“I see where breakdowns can occur, I see where difficulties occur within our system, and I just see where everything's intertwined,” she said. “If a father loses his driver's license in criminal court, it impacts his ability to pay child support in family court. It's all connected, and I think my diverse background helps me to see that big picture and understand that it's more than a decision that's being made in that court that day, it's more than a pen to paper.” 

Hampton-Johnson recalled a specific incident that crystallizes why she’s running for circuit court judge. 

She was in the process of adopting her two sons when one of the adoptions hit an obstacle. At the time, a former state statute prohibited LGBT parents from adopting children. “The love didn't change,” she said. What did was the question of the type of legal protections she and her children would have. Ultimately, she secured the adoption for one child and long-term relative caregiver status for the other.

“I just remember trying to navigate through the system with that, and not really understanding it,” Hampton-Johnson said. “Even though I did have a master's degree, I still didn't quite understand it all. Initially, I was dealing with a judge that really wasn't interested in trying to help me understand it. Then the case was transferred, and I received a judge who was empathetic. They explained it to me. They explained what the law was and that their hands were tied. But the empathy meant something to me. The respect meant something.”

That kind of respect is what Hampton-Johnson said she wants to provide to others as they’re having their own “worst day” in court. 

“A judge can make the difference between that person believing in the system or that person leaving with a jaded view of This system is not for me,” Hampton-Johnson said. “That’s where I think a judge’s temperament is most important. ... My goal is simple: to ensure every person who enters the courtroom is treated with dignity, respect and equal justice under the law." 

Hampton-Johnson maintains memberships in the National LGBT Bar Association, Black Women Lawyers Association of Central Florida, Central Florida Association of Women Lawyers and she serves on the Florida Bar’s Media and Communications Law Committee.

What professional experiences have best prepared you for the bench?

I think everything in my professional life has prepared me for that because you need so many qualities. I think it's safe to say every person who's running for judge meets the minimum qualifications — they have the education, the background, etc. So what else can you bring that we need? For me, I think my background has helped me most in that my temperament, my demeanor, it's not in theory. It's been a working thing.

I mentioned I worked in probation and parole the last five years, of which I solely supervised sex offenders, and what I will tell you is, though I may not agree with the offense, it was not personal for me when that person came into my office. I’d ask, “What are your orders? Are you in compliance with your orders?” That's it. Each one will tell you they were always treated with respect by me. Being personal didn't enter into our interactions. Same as a public defender, you don't pick your clients and I've had clients whose personal beliefs did not agree with mine. I've had clients who didn't want me as their lawyer because of my race, but I still represented them, and I still showed up. I still did my job protecting their constitutional right without taking it personal, without bringing my personal opinion or my personal feelings into it, so I think that's why I say everything in my background has prepared me.

Another thing, I also think having that real life experience…dealing with regular everyday people, those are the people we see in court often who don't have an attorney, and those are the ones who we need to restore their belief in our judicial system. I think my background has shown that I'm capable of doing that and exhibiting those behaviors that are necessary to help to restore that trust.

What role should personal values play in judicial decision-making?

Your personal values should not play any role — that's not your job. My job as a judge is to just apply the law and whatever controlling precedent fairly and efficiently. My personal opinion doesn't matter and, like I said, that's not me speaking in theory, that's me in practice. Most people when I tell them what I did as a probation officer, they're like, "How could you do that?” Because it's not my job. I wasn't on the jury. It wasn't my job to judge them. My job was to make sure they complied with their orders…That's it. Follow the law. They're not my friends, I’m just doing my job, but they would never tell you that they were treated in an unfair way.

How do you balance precedent with evolving societal standards?

As a judge you're obligated to apply the law and follow any binding precedent. However, that can't be done with just tunnel vision. You’ve got to understand the facts, the circumstances, and truthfully, the reality facing the people. 

If a father loses his driver's license in criminal court, it impacts his ability to pay child support and family. So, if I'm in criminal court and you come before me, and this is a factor that's brought up, these are [extenuating] circumstances. There are other mitigating factors. So maybe there's an option of them doing community service, maybe we're looking at something where this person can keep their driver's license because we do see the long-term effect of it now. If it's a situation where it's a mandatory suspension, whether it's a DUI or something like that, there's nothing I can do about that.

But where there is leeway and there is some room for the judge to navigate some things, I think we need to look at those alternatives, and that's part of looking at the big picture. It's not just tunnel vision, where you say “You didn't pay your fine, your license is suspended, now pay your fine, move on.” Well, [my question is] why didn't you pay the fine? What's the circumstances here?

[You need to apply] justice with integrity. That means each person, when you're coming in, you're applying the law fairly. I'm consistent, and there's no favoritism, no outside influences. It's treating that person that's in the courtroom with dignity and respect, regardless of their background or resources, whether they have money or don't have money.

What steps do you take to avoid conflicts of interest?

The main thing I've been talking about is restoring public faith and trust in the judicial system. So you want to make sure at every opportunity you're avoiding even the appearance of a conflict. 

For example, I’ve been asked before [about the support for my campaign] because you’ll hear, Well, people know you, but your name's not said a lot, or These people support you, but they're not openly supporting you. Because a lot of times when you're applying for appointment as judge, it's more about who knows you, who's recommending you, those sort of different things. The truth is … I get the job done. Every person you talk to about me, they had nothing but positive things to say. However, no one has done anything to advance me, which also means I don't owe anybody anything when I get there, and that's where a lot of conflicts come from.

Now, I can't think of many conflicts that I would have, but if there's one that exists, I have no problem acknowledging it and recusing myself from that case … If someone walks in, and I believe it's a conflict, I'm gonna go ahead and say it ahead of time. I'm not trying to hide anything, and I think that's part of my military ethical background of allowing people to make informed decisions. 

What barriers to justice do you see in the current system, and how would you address them?

As far as people having access to court, if there are things that we can do virtually and the parties feel comfortable and it's legally allowed, let's do that. Let's not drag people down to court if we don't have to, right? It just saves time, saves resources, and it's actually more efficient for the docket to help move it forward, but also wanting people to feel comfortable enough doing that, not forcing it, but giving them that option where we can. 

I also think [having more knowledge about the court process] is important, doing more for knowing your rights, or general information sessions being provided for people. I know they have the self-help center in the civil department, if you come down to the courthouse, but maybe some things like with public libraries where you do information sessions. In my past, I've done quite a few know your rights workshops. There's still people who need help processing that. One of the things I do right now is volunteer with the Florida Rights Restoration Collective, helping them to file those cases where we're converting people's court costs to community service, so we help get their rights restored. I'm doing a resource fair in Seminole County, and I know a lot of people are like, why are you doing stuff in Seminole? You're not campaigning in Seminole. But it's not necessarily about the race, it's about what I believe in doing, and it's about getting information to people.

I just feel like the more information people have, the more we can help to restore public trust, because when you understand things better, you can reconcile it in your mind, even when it doesn't go your way… But we also need to provide some resources to help people to understand and navigate the court system, because it is difficult. It's not easy. Even now as an attorney, I will say it's not easy. Each judge has their own procedures in each courtroom, so we as attorneys know to go look at the judge's procedures. However, the everyday citizen coming in may not, but that's the kind of information in those sessions we can give them.