FLORIDA SUPREME COURT
Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee
Opinion Number: 2002-08 (Elections)1
Date of Issue: May 24, 2002
MAY A JUDICIAL CANDIDATE ATTEND A POLITICAL MEETING TO SOCIALIZE AND GREET THE PARTICIPANTS, BUT NOT SPEAK.
May a judicial candidate attend a political meeting to socialize and greet the participants, but not speak.
ANSWER: NO
The inquiring candidate indicates that he and his opponent have been invited "to attend a political meeting and mix and mingle, ... stand in the doorway wearing a judicial candidate's badge for the purpose of greeting the delegates and informing them of his candidacy."
Canon 7A(1)(d)of the Florida Code of Judicial Conduct states:
"Except as authorized in sections 7B(2), 7C(2) and 7(C(3), a judge or judicial candidate for election or appointment to judicial office shall not ... attend political party functions..."
Canon 7C(3) of the Florida Code of Judicial Conduct states:
"A judicial candidate involved in an election ... may attend a political party function to speak on behalf of his or her candidacy or on a matter that relates to the law, the improvement of the legal system, or the administration of justice. The function must not be a fundraiser, and the invitation to speak must also include the other candidates, if any, for that office." (emphasis added)
The deciding factor in this inquiry is that no candidate will be afforded an opportunity to address the gathering. In Opinion 98-17 the Committee opined that a judicial candidate could attend a meeting of the Young Republican Club for a question and answer session because the candidate would speaking on the candidacy, conduct specifically permitted under the Code.
The Committee has dealt with this precise question in Opinion 90-16. In responding to an inquiry the committee decided that a judicial candidate may not to the premises upon which a political party is holding a political meeting for the purpose of meeting an greeting delegates where the candidate, and others, have not been invited for the purpose of speaking on behalf of the candidacy.
Florida Code of Judicial Conduct Canons 7A(1)(d), 7B(2), 7C(2) and 7C(3).
Florida Supreme Court Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee Opinions 90-16 and 98-17
The Judicial Ethics
Advisory Committee is expressly charged with rendering advisory opinions interpreting
the application of the Code of Judicial Conduct to specific circumstances confronting
or affecting a judge or judicial candidate. Its opinions are advisory to the inquiring
party, to the Judicial Qualifications Commission and to the judiciary at large.
Conduct that is consistent with an advisory opinion issued by the Committee may
be evidence of good faith on the part of the judge, but the Judicial Qualifications
Commission is not bound by the interpretive opinions by the Committee. Petition
of the Committee on Standards of Conduct Governing Judges, 698 So.2d 834 (Fla.
1997). However, in reviewing the recommendations of the Judicial Qualification
Commission for discipline, the Florida Supreme Court will consider conduct in
accordance with a Committee opinion as evidence of good faith. Id.
For further information, contact The Honorable Scott J. Silverman, Chairman, Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee, The Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building, 1351 NW 12th St #712, Miami, FL 33125
Participating
Members:
Judge Scott J. Silverman
Judge Jeffrey D. Swartz
Judge
Phyllis Kotey
Judge Richard R. Townsend
Copies furnished
to:
Chief Justice Peggy Quince
All Committee Members
All
Members of the J.Q.C.
Office of the State Courts Administrator (Name of
inquiring judge deleted from this copy)
1. The Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee has appointed an Election Practices Subcommittee. The purposes of this subcommittee is to give immediate responses to campaign questions instances where the normal Committee procedure would not provide a responses in time to be useful to the inquiring candidate or judge. Opinions designated with the "(Election)" notation are opinions of the Election Practices Subcommittee of the Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee.