Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T10:40:13.250Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Canons of Ethics and Accountability in State Supreme Court Elections

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2021

C. Scott Peters
C. Scott Peters*
Affiliation:
University of Northern Iowa
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article examines the influence of several canons within state codes of judicial ethics aimed at constraining the campaigning of candidates running for U.S. state judicial office. These canons have been much debated since 2002, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that one of them, the announce clause, unconstitutionally restricted the free speech rights of candidates. Based on their likely influence on the availability of information in judicial contests, I hypothesize that the primary effect of these canons is to make incumbents less accountable to the public. Looking at U.S. state supreme court contests from 1998 to 2006 where incumbents are seeking re-election, I find strong evidence that four of the five canons make it less likely for challengers to arise, and I also find evidence that restrictions on candidate solicitation of funds favor incumbents in the general election.

Type
Research Article
Information
State Politics & Policy Quarterly , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , Spring 2009 , pp. 24 - 55
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abramowitz, Alan I. 1991. “Incumbency, Campaign Spending, and the Decline of Competition in U.S. House Elections.” The Journal of Politics 53:34–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
American Bar Association. n.d. Model Code of Judicial Conduct. www.abanet.org/cpr/mcjc/toc.html.Google Scholar
Baum, Lawrence. 1983. “The Electoral Fates of Incumbent Judges in the Ohio Court of Common Pleas.” Judicature 66:24–50.Google Scholar
Bond, Jon R., Covington, Cary, and Fleisher, Richard. 1985. “Explaining Challenger Quality in Congressional Elections.” The Journal of Politics 47:510–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonneau, Chris W. 2004. “Patterns of Campaign Spending and Electoral Competition in State Supreme Court Elections.” Justice System Journal 25:21–39.Google Scholar
Bonneau, Chris W. 2005a. “Electoral Verdicts: Incumbent Defeats in State Supreme Court Elections.” American Politics Research 33:818–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonneau, Chris W. 2005b. “What Price Justice(s)? Understanding Campaign Spending in State Supreme Court Elections.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 5:107–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonneau, Chris W. 2007a. “Campaign Fundraising in State Supreme Court Elections.” Social Science Quarterly 88:68–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonneau, Chris W. 2007b. “The Effects of Campaign Spending in State Supreme Court Elections.” Political Research Quarterly 60:489–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonneau, Chris W., and Hall, Melinda Gann. 2003. “Predicting Challengers in State Supreme Court Elections: Context and the Politics of Institutional Design.” Political Research Quarterly 56:337–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowen, Lauren. 1995. “Attorney Advertising in the Wake of Bates v. State Bar of Arizona (1977): A Study of Judicial Impact.” American Politics Quarterly 23:461–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brace, Paul, and Hall, Melinda Gann. 1990. “Neo-Institutionalism and Dissent in State Supreme Courts.” The Journal of Politics 52:54–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brace, Paul, and Hall, Melinda Gann. 1995. “Studying the Courts Comparatively: A View from the American States.” Political Research Quarterly 48:5–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brennan Center for Justice. 2007. Chart of State Canons of Judicial Conduct. http://brennancenter.org/dynamic/subpages/download_file_9221.pdf.Google Scholar
Byrne, Gary C., and Kristian Pueschel, J.. 1974. “But Who Should I Vote for for County Coroner?” The Journal of Politics 36:778–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Canon, Bradley C., and Johnson, Charles A.. 1998. Judicial Policies: Implementation and Impact, 2nd ed. Washington, DC: CQ Press.Google Scholar
Canon, David T. 1990. Actors, Athletes, and Astronauts: Political Amateurs in the United States Congress. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Carey v. Wolnitzek, No. 3:06-CV-00036, 2006 WL 2916814 (E.D. Ky. Oct. 10, 2006).Google Scholar
Caufield, Rachel Paine. 2005. “In the Wake of White: How States are Responding to Republican Party of Minnesota v. White and How Judicial Elections are Changing.” Akron Law Review 38:625–47.Google Scholar
Caufield, Rachel Paine. 2007. “The Changing Tone of Judicial Election Campaigns as a Result of White” In Running for Judge: The Rising Political, Financial, and Legal Stakes of Judicial Elections, ed. Streb, Matthew J.. New York, NY: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Cauthen, James N.G., and Scott Peters, C.. 2003. “Courting Constituents: District Elections and Judicial Behavior on the Louisiana Supreme Court.” Justice System Journal 24:265–82.Google Scholar
Dubois, Philip L. 1979. “The Significance of Voting Cues in State Supreme Court Elections.” Law & Society Review 13:757–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dubois, Philip L. 1980. From Ballot to Bench: Judicial Elections and the Quest for Accountability. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Dubois, Philip L. 1984. “Voting Cues in Nonpartisan Trial Court Elections: A Multivariate Assessment.” Law & Society Review 18:395–436.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Family Trust Foundation of Kentucky v. Wolnitzek, 345 F. Supp. 2d 672 (2004).Google Scholar
Gibson, James L. 2008. “Challenges to the Impartiality of State Supreme Courts: Legitimacy Theory and ‘New Style’ Judicial Campaigns.” American Political Science Review 102:57–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gierzynski, Anthony, and Breaux, David. 1991. “Money and Votes in State Legislative Elections.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 16:203–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gierzynski, Anthony, and Breaux, David. 1996. “Legislative Elections and the Importance of Money.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 21:337–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goidel, Robert K., and Gross, Donald A.. 1994. “A Systems Approach to Campaign Finance in the U.S. House Elections.” American Politics Quarterly 22:125–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goidel, Robert K., and Gross, Donald A.. 1996. “Reconsidering ‘Myths and Realities’ of Campaign Finance Reform.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 21:129–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goidel, Robert K., Gross, Donald A., and Shields, Todd G.. 1999. Money Matters. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.Google Scholar
Goldberg, Deborah, Samis, Sarah, Bender, Edwin, and Weiss, Rachel. 2005. “The New Politics of Judicial Elections 2004.” Justice at Stake Campaign. www.justiceatstake.org/files/NewPoliticsReport2004.pdf.Google Scholar
Gray, Cynthia. 2005. Developments Following Republican Party of Minnesota v. White. www.ajs.org/ethics/pdfs/DevelopmentsafterWhite.pdf.Google Scholar
Green, Donald P., and Krasno, Jonathan S.. 1988. “Salvation for the Spendthrift Incumbent: Reestimating the Effects of Campaign Spending in House Elections.” American Journal of Political Science 32:884–907.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, Donald P., and Krasno, Jonathan S.. 1990. “Rebuttal to Jacobson's New Evidence for Old Arguments.” American Journal of Political Science 34:363–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, Kermit. 1983. “The Judiciary on Trial: State Constitutional Reform and the Rise of an Elected Judiciary, 1846–1860.” The Historian 45:337–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, Melinda Gann. 1992. “Electoral Politics and Strategic Voting on State Supreme Courts.” The Journal of Politics 54:427–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, Melinda Gann. 1995. “Justices as Representatives: Elections and Judicial Politics in the American States.” American Politics Quarterly 23:485–503.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, Melinda Gann. 2001. “State Supreme Courts in American Democracy: Probing the Myths of Judicial Reform.” American Political Science Review 95:315–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, Melinda Gann, and Bonneau, Chris W.. 2006. “Does Quality Matter? Challengers in State Supreme Court Elections.” American Journal of Political Science 50:20–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, Melinda Gann, and Brace, Paul. 1992. “Toward an Integrated Model of Judicial Voting Behavior.” American Politics Quarterly 20:147–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heckman, James J. 1979. “Sample Selection Bias as a Specification Error.” Econometrica 47:153–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herrnson, Paul S. 2004. Congressional Elections: Campaigning at Home and in Washington, 4th ed. Washington, DC: CQ Press.Google Scholar
Hojnacki, Marie, and Baum, Lawrence. 1992. “‘New Style’ Judicial Campaigns and the Voters: Economic Issues and Union Members in Ohio.” Western Political Quarterly 45:921–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holbrook, Thomas A., and Dunk, Emily Van. 1993. “Electoral Competition in the American States.” American Political Science Review 87:955–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobson, Gary C. 1978. “The Effects of Campaign Spending in Congressional Elections.” American Political Science Review 72:468–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobson, Gary C. 1980. Money in Congressional Elections. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Jacobson, Gary C. 1990. “The Effects of Campaign Spending in House Elections: New Evidence for Old Arguments.” American Journal of Political Science 34:334–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobson, Gary C. 2001. The Politics of Congressional Elections, 5th ed. New York, NY: Longman.Google Scholar
Jewell, Malcolm E. 1982. Representation in State Legislatures. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky.Google Scholar
Jewell, Malcolm E., and Breaux, David. 1988. “The Effect of Incumbency on State Legislative Elections.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 13:495–514.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kansas Judicial Watch v. Stout, Civil Action Number 06–4056-JAR (July 19, 2006).Google Scholar
Kentucky Judicial Campaign Conduct Committee. 2006. Electing Judges in Kentucky 2006. www.lwvky.org/JCCC-Brochure-09–09.htm.Google Scholar
Klein, David, and Baum, Lawrence. 2001. “Ballot Information and Voting Decisions in Judicial Elections.” Political Research Quarterly 54:709–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krasno, Jonathan S., and Green, Donald P.. 1988. “Preempting Quality Challengers in House Elections.” The Journal of Politics 50:920–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Layman, James. 2006. “Judicial Campaign Speech Regulation: Integrity or Incentives.” Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics 19:769–80.Google Scholar
Lovrich, Nicholas P. Jr., and Sheldon, Charles H.. 1983. “Voters in Contested, Nonpartisan Judicial Elections: A Responsible Electorate or a Problematic Public?” Western Political Quarterly 36:241–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
National Institute for Money in State Politics. Electronic Database. www.followthemoney.org.Google Scholar
Nakanishi, Masao, Cooper, Lee G., and Kassarjian, Harold H.. 1974. “Voting for a Political Candidate Under Conditions of Minimal Information.” Journal of Consumer Research 1:36–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
North Dakota Family Alliance v. Bader, 361 F. Supp. 2d 1021 (2005).Google Scholar
Peters, C. Scott. 2007. “Canons, Cost, and Competition in State Supreme Court Elections.” Judicature 91:27–35.Google Scholar
Pinello, Daniel R. 1995. The Impact of Judicial Selection Method on State Supreme Court Policy. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.Google Scholar
Powell, Richard J. 2000. “The Impact of Term Limits on the Candidacy Decisions of State Legislators in U. S. House Elections.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 25:645–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Republican Party of Minnesota v. White, 536 U.S. 765 (2002).Google Scholar
Rottman, David B. 2002. “The White Decision in the Court of Opinion: View of Judges and the General Public.” Court Review 39:16.Google Scholar
Salokar, Rebecca Mae. 2005. “After White: An Insider's Thoughts on Judicial Campaign Speech.” Justice System Journal 26:149–61.Google Scholar
Sample, James, Jones, Lauren, and Weiss, Rachel. 2007. “The New Politics of Judicial Elections 2006.” www.justiceatstake.org/files/NewPoliticsofJudicialElections2006.pdf.Google Scholar
Schnaffner, Brian F., Streb, Matthew, and Wright, Gerald. 2001. “Teams Without Uniforms: The Nonpartisan Ballot in State and Local Elections.” Political Research Quarterly 54:7–30.Google Scholar
Sheldon, Charles, and Lovrich, Nicholas. 1983. “Knowledge and Judicial Voting: The Oregon and Washington Experience.” Judicature 67:234–45.Google Scholar
Spargo v. State Commission on Judicial Conduct, 351 F. 3d 65 (2nd Circuit 2003).Google Scholar
Squire, Peverill. 2000. “Uncontested Seats in State Legislative Elections.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 25:131–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Squire, Peverill, and Smith, Eric R.A.N.. 1988. “The Effect of Partisan Information on Voters in Nonpartisan Elections.” The Journal of Politics 50:169–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Dunk, Emily. 1997. “Challenger Quality in State Legislative Elections.” Political Research Quarterly 50:793.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weaver v. Bonner, 309 F. 3d 1312 (11th Cir. 2002).Google Scholar