Ensuring Judicial Independence
The Constitution Project
The Higher Ground Standards of Conduct for Judicial Candidates
The Constitution Project, a bipartisan group dedicated to finding solutions to difficult legal and governance issues through a combination of scholarship and public education, created the Higher Ground Standards of Conduct for Judicial Candidates. The Higher Ground Standards were promoted for use in judicial campaigns in Alabama, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Texas in 2000. In the aftermath of these contests, the Constitution Project has created Surveying the Higher Ground: The 2000 Judicial Elections in Five States. This survey provides a scorecard of campaign conduct, candidates who were targeted and why, responses to attacks, election outcomes, and the impact of the Standards on candidate behavior and campaign practices. The survey also includes video clips of inappropriate campaign commercials, news clips covering the campaigns, and links to the applicable canons of conduct for each state. To access the survey, please visit www.constitutionproject.org/ci/survey/states.htm.
For general information on The Constitution Project and their judicial independence programs, please visit www.constitutionproject.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.