Candidate conspired to take down Miami judge over Trump ruling, suit alleges

MIAMI — A Miami-Dade judge is accusing her challenger of conspiring with politically connected individuals to send out text messages that attack her partiality as a judge — and falsely state she was a communist who hates the United States, according to a recently filed lawsuit.

Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Mavel Ruiz alleges in the Saturday filing that the internet attacks and text messages included defamatory statements — and were part of a “civil conspiracy” — to defame Ruiz to “improperly and unlawfully influence the outcome” of the Aug. 18 election.

Ruiz, 65, says her opponent Destiny Alvarez, a Coral Gables attorney who was admitted to the Florida Bar in 2020, collaborated with others on the coordinated attack campaign in “order to damage [Ruiz’s] reputation, candidacy and her judicial career.”

Ruiz is suing Alvarez, 30. When reached for comment, Alvarez denied that she was affiliated with any political committee in connection to the attack campaign.

“I am proud to be running a campaign focused on serving every resident of Miami with character, integrity, and fairness,” Alvarez said in a statement. “I have not been served with the lawsuit and remain focused on what matters most: making my case directly to the voters. From day one, this has been a positive campaign.”

Several political committees and organizations were involved in the conspiracy, according to the suit. Also named as defendants are Fighting for a Better Miami-Dade, Miami-Dade Residents United, Miranda Advocacy LLC, New Vision For Our Courts, Order 66 LLC, and We Can Do Better Miami.

Ruiz, the suit indicates, is also suing Nicholas Alvarez, Alvarez’s husband, who is a political lobbyist; Alejandro Miranda, a political operative and manager of Miranda Advocacy and Order 66; and Damian Tapia, the registered agent of New Vision, Fighting For A Better Miami-Dade and Residents United.

Five unidentified defendants are also listed. The filing says they are believed to be lobbyists, donors, consultants or officials.

The suit points to several text messages accusing Ruiz of being biased against conservatives as well as an attack website under the judge’s name as evidence that the defendants acted with a reckless disregard for the truth — and with malice — when they made those statements.

Neither Ruiz nor her attorney, Henry Marines, responded to the Herald’s request for comment.

Is campaign linked to Trump library case?

Ruiz was the target of mass text blasts that labeled the incumbent judge of more than a decade a “communist” who hates the United States and uses the “judiciary as a weapon to attack conservative patriots in our courts,” according to the complaint. One of the messages, sent in Spanish, also said Ruiz “prevented’ President Donald J. Trump from building his Presidential Library in Miami.”

In 2025, ruling in a lawsuit brought by historian Marvin Dunn, Ruiz blocked the transfer of land by Miami Dade College in downtown Miami for the Trump presidential library. Ruiz found that the historian would likely be able to prove that the college’s Board of Trustees denied the public access to weigh in on the plans before they voted.

Ruiz reversed her block on the land transfer after trustees took a do-over vote, and dismissed the case. Afterward, the college Board of Trustees successfully sought to disqualify her from presiding over future cases related to the college and the library, saying she was personally biased in favor of Dunn. Ruiz hugged him after one hearing.

“The accusation that a sitting judge is a ‘communist’ who hates her country is a false assertion of fact, not rhetorical hyperbole,” the lawsuit said. “It imputes to [Ruiz] allegiance to an ideology and to organizations devoted to the overthrow of the government of the United States, disloyalty to her country, and characteristics and a condition incompatible with the impartial exercise of judicial office.”

In the filing, Ruiz alleges that after her ruling in the Trump library case, a “network of politically affiliated persons” recruited and financed Alvarez to run against her. They then organized the “coordinated campaign of disinformation” directly tied to her ruling.

Ruiz’s attorney highlighted that the PACs connected to the plot share an office suite, phone number and officers. The suit also claims that Alvarez’s husband served “as the conduit” through which Alvarez communicated with those who funded and disseminated the attack ads. That was intended to conceal Alvarez’s affiliation with the attacks, according to the filing.

Several of the PACs, the complaint states, contributed to Alvarez’s campaign. One of the organizations, New Vision, paid another, Order 66, more than $25,000 for advertising, website development, translation services and text messages.

The listed defendants are also accused of coordinating an internet attack website using the judge’s name, mavelruiz.com. As of Wednesday morning, the website remains public.

Upon accessing the website, browsers are met with the statement “Judge Mavel Ruiz, Unethical. Unfit. Untrustworthy.” The website, which lists a disciplinary matter and cases in which Ruiz’s ruling were reversed, says her judicial record reflects a “pattern of abusing one’s power.”

“Read as a whole, the Defamatory Website falsely states and implies to the ordinary reader that [Ruiz] has intentionally and corruptly abused, and continues to abuse, the power of her judicial office,” the filing states.

Alvarez’s bid for the judicial seat has been a topic of conversation in legal and political circles, namely due to the contentious nature of the race. Judicial races are supposed to be non-partisan.

In June, the Florida Bulldog published an article detailing how Alvarez’s campaign was being bankrolled by Trump allies who were irate by Ruiz’s ruling in the presidential library case.

Alvarez, who graduated from law school at the University of Florida, is a member of the Federalist Society, a conservative legal organization. She also served as a gubernatorial fellow during Gov. Ron DeSantis’ first term.

Alvarez, whose maiden name is Goede, is a managing partner at her father’s law firm Goede DeBoest & Cross, according to the Florida Bulldog.

While she has handled civil litigation, insurance disputes and HOA and condominium law, she hasn’t tried a case in front of a jury or a judge in the five years she has been practicing law.