After White: Defending and Amending Canons of Judicial Ethics
A member of the North Carolina Supreme Court served as master of ceremonies for a Republican Party fundraising event in July 2002 and spoke in support of the partys candidates. Under the canons of judicial ethics in force at the time in North Carolina and most other states, judges were forbidden to engage in partisan political activity of this kind. The following year, the justice admitted that the states Judicial Standards Commission had privately admonished him for breaking the rules. Less than two months later, the same justice and his colleagues amended the states ethical canons to permit judges to attend, preside over, and speak at any political party gathering, meeting or other convocation and engage in other political activity.
There is every reason to expect attacks on the canons to proliferate. If the canons are to survive, their defenders must be prepared.
