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Monday, May 14, 2007
Courts - Pennsylvania Rule Prohibiting Judicial Candidates’ Speech Enjoined
From a press release of attorney James Bopp, Jr., lead counsel for the plaintiffs:
Federal District Court Judge Marvin Katz has granted a preliminary injunction against provisions of the Pennsylvania Code of Judicial Conduct that prohibited state court judicial candidates from responding to a questionnaire asking their views on legal and political issues. The Court held that provisions of Pennsylvania’s Code that forbid judicial candidates from making “pledges or promises” of conduct in office or statements that “commit or appear to commit” candidates on issues likely to come before them violated the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution because these provisions prohibited candidates from simply announcing their views on issues.Bopp obtained a similar remedy in Indiana last November; see this Nov. 14, 2006 ILB entry. Here is the Pennsylvania memorandum and order, via the James Madison Center for Free Speech.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on May 14, 2007 10:41 PM
Posted to Courts in general