May judges write an explanatory article for a trade magazine and appear with its president on the cover?
Apply this to your situation
This page answers the general question as of 1997. Ask about yours and see what the current rules of professional conduct in your state say for your facts, with citations.
Plain-English summary
A local trade magazine planned an issue about the judicial process and asked judges to contribute an informative article and appear with the trade association's president on the cover. The judges would not be paid.
The Commission permitted both activities under Canon 4. Canon 4A allowed judges to write and speak about the law and administration of justice, subject to proper performance of duties and impartiality.
The permission depended on an informative treatment of the legal process, rather than promotion of one side of an issue, and on avoiding doubt about the judges' ability to decide future matters impartially.
Currency note
This opinion was issued in 1997, after the Alabama Supreme Court's 1975 adoption of the Alabama Canons of Judicial Ethics. Subsequent amendments or later opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context and verify the current Canons and linked opinion before relying on its conclusions.
Common questions
Q: Could the judges write the article?
A: Yes, if it explained the judicial process consistently with Canon 4.
Q: Could they appear with the association president on the cover?
A: Yes, under the same educational and impartiality conditions.
Q: Could the publication promote one side of a dispute?
A: The opinion conditioned permission on not promoting one side of an issue.
Background and rules framework
The Commission applied Alabama Canon 4 and its subsection A to public education about the legal system, while preserving judicial duties and impartiality.
Citations and references
Alabama Canons 4 and 4A.
See also
Source
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Landing page: Alabama JIC advisory opinions
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Original PDF: Advisory Opinion 97-667
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Canon history: Alabama JIC, Canons of Judicial Ethics
Original opinion text
Reproduced from the official source for research purposes. The linked source is authoritative.
97-667
Judicial Inquiry Commission
800 SOUTH MCDONOUGH STREET
SUITE 201
MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA 36104
August 26, 1997
The Judicial Inquiry Commission has received your request for an opinion concerning whether judges may submit an article for publication to a non-legal trade association magazine. The article will be an informative article in an edition of the trade magazine dedicated entirely to articles concerning the local judicial process. In addition, the judges have been asked to appear on the cover of the magazine with the president of the organization. No remuneration is involved. It is the opinion of the Commission that judges may engage in the activities described. Judges may submit articles concerning the judicial process at the request of a local trade association for publication in its local trade magazine and they may appear with the association’s president on the cover of the magazine containing the article. This opinion is based primarily on the provisions of Canon 4 of the Alabama Canons of Judicial Ethics. Canon 4 makes specific provision for judges engaging in activities “to improve the law, the legal system, and the administration of justice” as follows: A judge, subject to the proper performance of his judicial duties, may engage in the following quasi-judicial activities, if in doing so he does not cast doubt on his capacity to decide impartially any issue that may come before him: A. He may speak, write, lecture, teach, and participate in other activities concerning the law, the legal system, and the administration of justice. The article in the trade magazine is suggested to be an article explaining the legal process in an informative manner. Such would seem to be encouraged by Canon 4 subject to the restriction that the article, “does not cast doubt on his capacity to decide impartially any issue that may come before him.” The appearance of the judges on the cover of the magazine along with the association’s president appears to fall within this same category so long as the endeavor is not to promote one side of an issue but to present informative articles on the legal process. Very truly yours, JUDICIAL INQUIRY COMMISSION
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