Ensuring Judicial Independence
Judicial Campaign Conduct Committees
In response to growing concerns about the negative tone of judicial campaigns, judicial campaign conduct committees have been established in several states, counties, and localities in recent years. These committees seek to improve the conduct of judicial campaigns by promoting compliance with the spirit and letter of the state canons of judicial ethics that govern campaign speech and conduct. Conduct, or oversight, committees serve three primary functions: educating candidates at the beginning of the campaign about relevant judicial canons and campaign finance regulations; reviewing campaign materials in advance and answering candidates’ questions about campaign communications or tactics; and, as a last resort, publicly disclosing any instances of misconduct or referring complaints to the official judicial discipline entity. Many conduct committees include significant public involvement in the form of lay members and partnerships with non-legal and civic organizations.
The American Bar Association House of Delegates adopted a policy in August 2002 calling on state, local and territorial bar associations to establish campaign conduct committees to promote honesty and integrity in judicial campaigns and to further the public's knowledge about and trust and confidence in the justice system. Download the ABA policy on judicial campaign conduct committees.
Several concerned organizations and individuals have come together to
form the National Ad
Hoc Advisory Committee on Judicial Campaign Conduct. The Ad Hoc Committee
offers background information on campaign conduct committees and technical
assistance to those jurisdictions interested in forming a committee. Members
of the Ad Hoc Committee include experts on judicial campaign conduct,
leaders of campaign conduct committees, and representatives of the ABA
Standing Committee on Judicial Independence, the Constitution Project,
the Justice at Stake Campaign, and the National Center for State Courts.
Two basic types of campaign conduct committees exist: official and unofficial.
Official committees are those established by state supreme courts,
judicial disciplinary agencies, or state bar associations in which membership
is mandatory for lawyers.
Unofficial committees are generally established by local bar associations
or state bar associations in which attorney membership is voluntary.
- Please click here for a list of judicial campaign conduct committees.
- Please click here for a list of additional resources.
This information was compiled jointly by the ABA Standing Committee on
Judicial Independence and The Constitution Project. For more information
on judicial campaign conduct committees generally, please contact:
Seth Andersen, American Bar Association Standing Committee on Judicial
Independence, anderses@staff.abanet.org.
This resource kit contains materials from a variety of
sources. Consequently, unless specifically stated, materials do not necessarily
represent official policy of the ABA.
Updated May 2002.