Judicial Conduct · 2-8% of the exam
24.3The political arena (CJC Rules 4.1–4.5)
On this page
- CJC Rule 4.1 — Prohibited political acts (selected).
Plain English
Who is doing the asking — the judge, or the committee? A judge or candidate may never personally solicit contributions by any medium; only the campaign committee may ask (Williams-Yulee v. Florida Bar). A pledge to rule a particular way on cases likely to come before the court violates CJC Rule 4.1 in any election; Comment [14] permits campaign promises related to judicial organization, administration, and court management.
Rule
CJC Rule 4.1 — Prohibited political acts (selected).
CJC Rule 4.1 — Prohibited political acts (selected). Except as permitted by law, or by CJC Rules 4.2, 4.3 and 4.4, a judge or judicial candidate shall not:
Act as a leader in, or hold office in, a political organization.
Make speeches for a political organization.
Publicly endorse or oppose any candidate for any public office, including a family member's campaign.
Solicit funds for, pay assessments to, or contribute to a political organization or candidate.
Attend or purchase tickets for dinners or events sponsored by a political organization or a candidate for public office.
Publicly identify as a political organization's candidate, or seek, accept, or use its endorsement (outside a partisan election).
Personally solicit or accept campaign contributions except through an authorized campaign committee.
Use campaign contributions for private benefit.
Use court staff, facilities, or resources in a campaign.
Make false or misleading statements knowingly or with reckless disregard for truth.
Make any statement one could reasonably expect to affect the outcome, or impair the fairness, of a matter pending or impending in any court.
Make pledges, promises, or commitments inconsistent with the impartial performance of adjudicative duties regarding cases likely to come before the court ("I'll be tough on drunk drivers").
Key definitions:
Political organization: a political party or party-affiliated group; not the judge's own campaign committee.
Contribution: financial and in-kind alike (goods, services, advertising, assistance).
Personally solicit: a direct request — in person, by letter, by telephone, by any medium — for financial support or in-kind services. The ban is about who asks, not how the asking travels.
Permitted: personal opinions on legal, political, or other topics; campaign promises related to judicial organization, administration, and court management (Comment [14]) — disposing of a backlog of cases, starting sessions on time — and pledges to act outside the courtroom; promises about how cases come out are what paragraph (A)(13) prohibits. Judges and judicial candidates may register to vote as members of a political party, may vote in primary and general elections, and may take part in a caucus-type election procedure without that being support for a political organization or candidate (Comments [3] and [6]); what paragraph (A)(1) reaches is a leadership role in one.
| Rule | May | May not |
|---|---|---|
| 4.2 Candidate in an election, inside the window | establish a campaign committee; speak for the candidacy; endorse or oppose rivals for the same judicial office; "attend or purchase tickets" for events sponsored by a political organization "or a candidate for public office" (Comment [5]); seek endorsements, though not a partisan organization's in a nonpartisan or retention contest; contribute within the limits | personally solicit contributions; solicit before the window opens; act inconsistently with judicial independence, integrity, and impartiality, or with campaign-finance law; ship anything unreviewed — the candidate must "review and approve the content of all campaign statements and materials produced by the candidate or the campaign committee" before dissemination — or leave others unwatched: "take reasonable measures to ensure that other persons do not undertake on the candidate's behalf" what CJC Rule 4.1 prohibits |
| 4.2 Partisan elections only | publicly identify as a political organization's candidate; seek, accept, and use its endorsement | — |
| 4.3 Candidate for appointment | approach the appointing or confirming authority; seek any endorsement | seek a partisan organization's endorsement |
| 4.4 Campaign committee | solicit and accept reasonable contributions within the limit, inside the designated period, with every statutory disclosure | solicit outside that period, or take more than the limit |
| 4.5 Judge seeking nonjudicial office | stay on the bench as a candidate for an appointed nonjudicial office | run for an elected one while sitting — CJC Rule 4.5(A) requires resignation unless law permits retention |
Example 1
Ex. 1
Gina, an incumbent judge, emails four hundred lawyers asking for campaign donations. Her authorized committee mails an identical request. At a forum she pledges to "crack down hard on white-collar crime," then endorses her brother's congressional campaign. The email is a prohibited personal solicitation; medium is irrelevant. The committee mailing is fine; the ban targets who asks. The pledge is prohibited, and a partisan election is no exception. The endorsement violates CJC Rule 4.1 whatever the family relationship. Score Gina's four acts one at a time.
Questions · 3
Q 01ch24-e08
Question 1 of 3 · Rule CJC 4.1
Judge is running for re-election to the trial bench and has an authorized campaign committee that handles fund-raising. Wanting something warmer than a committee letter, Judge recorded a two-minute video asking for money for the campaign and sent it as a private message to sixty lawyers in the county through a professional networking site. The committee neither wrote, reviewed, nor sent the video, and learned of it only afterward. None of the sixty lawyers had a case before Judge, and the video broke no state election-finance law. Is Judge subject to discipline?
Keys 1 to 4 choose.