Federal Judiciary’s Ethics Committee Suggests Judges Cannot be Members of Conservative Federalist Society but Left-Wing Extremist American Bar Association is OK
A draft opinion from a federal judicial ethics committee, which was circulated among federal judges this month and first published by the National Review, has some conservative court watchers concerned that the committee is trying to suppress the Federalist Society, a powerful right-leaning lawyers’ organization.
A longtime member and volunteer leader of the Federalist Society told Fox News that the opinion “smacks of censorship.”
The Committee on Codes of Conduct opinion clarifies that it is “broadly permissible” for federal judges to speak at Federalist Society events — and events for its left-wing counterpart the American Constitution Society — but raises concerns that judges’ membership in either organization could cause the public to lose faith in that judge’s impartiality.
“Official affiliation with either organization could convey to a reasonable person that the affiliated judge endorses the views and particular ideological perspectives advocated by the organization; call into question the affiliated judge’s impartiality on subjects as to which the organization has taken a position; and generally frustrate the public’s trust in the integrity and independence of the judiciary,” the opinion states.
That statement isn’t sitting well with some conservatives, including Judicial Crisis Network chief counsel and policy director Carrie Severino, who called the opinion part of an “ongoing political campaign to silence the Federalist Society.”
The new draft advisory opinion from the Committee on Codes of Conduct regarding "Judges’ Involvement With the American Constitution Society, the Federalist Society, and the American Bar Association" is unprecedented in its attempt to silence the Federalist Society. (1/7)
— Carrie Severino (@JCNSeverino) January 22, 2020
(Read more from “Federal Judiciary’s Ethics Committee Suggests Judges Cannot be Members of Conservative Federalist Society but Left-Wing Extremist American Bar Association is OK” HERE)
Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE
