John Badalamenti

John Leonard Badalamenti (born August 22, 1973) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

Biography
Badalamenti received a Bachelor of Arts in 1995, with highest honors, a Master of Arts in 1999, and a Juris Doctor in 1999, with honors, from the University of Florida. He began his career in the U.S. Attorney General's Honors Program, serving as an attorney-advisor at the Federal Bureau of Prisons from 1999 to 2000. He first clerked for Judge Frank M. Hull of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit from 2000 to 2001. Badalamenti was also an associate at Carlton Fields, P.A. from 2001 to 2002. Then, he clerked for Judge Paul Hitch Roney of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit from 2003 to 2006. He served for nearly a decade as an Assistant Federal Public Defender in the Middle District of Florida from 2006 to 2015. He is an Eagle Scout and serves as a volunteer for the Boy Scouts of America.

Badalamenti was counsel of record, authored the petition for writ of certiorari, and presented oral argument in the Supreme Court of the United States for the prevailing petitioner, a fisherman, who was charged under a criminal provision, 18 U.S.C. § 1519, of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 for destroying undersized fish to prevent their seizure by federal authorities.Yates v. United States (2015), 135 S. Ct. 1074 (2015).

As a child, Badalamenti lived in the Gravesend Neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, attending Our Lady of Grace Catholic Academy. He is the nephew of Angelo Badalamenti, an American music composer.

Badalamenti battled blindness in law school in the 1990s and regained his sight through cornea transplants. He is now blind in one eye and has trouble seeing with the other because of an eye infection in 2020.

State judicial service
From 2015 to 2020, Badalamenti served as a Judge of the Florida Second District Court of Appeal after being appointed by Governor Rick Scott. Badalamenti won merit retention in 2016. His state court service ended when he was commissioned as a federal judge.

Federal judicial service
In December 2017, Badalamenti was chosen by the bipartisan Federal Judicial Nominating Commission Middle District Conference as one of four finalists for Senators Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio to recommend to President Donald Trump to fill one of the vacancies created by Judges James D. Whittemore and John E. Steele taking senior status. Badalamenti was not nominated for either vacancy.

On December 23, 2019, President Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate Badalamenti to serve as a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. On February 4, 2020, his nomination was sent to the United States Senate. President Trump nominated Badalamenti to the seat vacated by Judge Elizabeth A. Kovachevich, who assumed senior status on December 14, 2018. A substantial majority of the American Bar Association (ABA)'s Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary, which rates the qualifications of federal judicial nominees, rated Badalamenti "well qualified" to serve as a federal trial court judge. A hearing on his nomination before the Senate Judiciary Committee was held on February 12, 2020. On March 12, 2020, his nomination was reported out of committee by a 15–6 vote. On May 21, 2020, the Senate invoked cloture on his nomination by a 65–28 vote. On June 1, 2020, his nomination was confirmed by a 55–22 vote. He received his judicial commission on June 4, 2020.

Notable cases
In 2023, Badalamenti entered summary judgment against a plaintiff who sued the School Board of Lee County based on termination of a food supply contract with his business. The plaintiff alleged that the termination of the contract violated his First Amendment rights because it was precipitated by a Facebook post he wrote, in which he characterized the COVID-19 pandemic as a “hoax” and denounced George Floyd. Badalamenti ruled that the School Board's stated interests in terminating the contract outweighed the plaintiff's First Amendment interests.