Constitutionality of Canon 7(B)(1)(c) of the Code of Judicial Conduct: Free Speech Rights of Judges, The

Abstract

FIRST PARAGRAPH(S)|"Who is to Tell the [King] [He] is Old & Fat?" or "Who Among the Mice Will Bell the Cat?"' The notion of an elected judiciary is a highly curious and debatable proposition pitting seemingly discordant values squarely against one another. On the one hand, the judiciary aspires to impress upon the public an aura of integrity and independence to assure its legitimacy as a governmental entity. The public, on the other hand, yearns for judicial accountability; the ability to control the selection of persons entrusted with protecting our most basic fundamental liberties. Electoral control over the selection of judges, while not giving voters a hegemony over individual cases, does allow the electorate to subtly influence the judicial system over an accumulation of cases. Voters, therefore, avoid a feeling of legal helplessness over the protection of their legal rights because they have the assurance of holding judges responsible for morally indefensible decisions. These values collide because accountability is often seen as harming the purity of the judicial process...