Could an Illinois judge publicly endorse a candidate for judicial office?

Plain-English summary

One noncandidate judge wanted to publicly support a judicial candidate. Another judge, running for a circuit court seat, wanted to support another candidate in that election.

The Committee applied former Rule 67A(1)(b)’s general ban on a judge publicly endorsing or opposing a candidate for public office. That barred the noncandidate judge’s proposed endorsement.

Former Rule 67B(1)(b)(iv) allowed a judge who was a candidate for public election to endorse or oppose other candidates in the same election. The opinion said that exception also covered a judge running for retention, and could extend to candidates for nonjudicial offices in that election.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1994 under the 1993 Illinois Code of Judicial Conduct. The Committee’s archive says that Code was superseded on January 1, 2023, and does not assess the effect of the 2023 Code. Treat this page as historical context and verify the current Code before relying on its analysis.

Common questions

Q: Could a noncandidate judge endorse a judicial candidate?

A: No. The Committee applied the general public-endorsement ban.

Q: Could a judge running for election endorse another candidate?

A: Yes, if the other candidate was in the same public election.

Q: Did the exception include a retention candidate?

A: Yes. The Committee treated a judge seeking retention as a candidate for public election.

Background and rules framework

The Committee distinguished former Illinois Supreme Court Rule 67A(1)(b)’s general prohibition from Rule 67B(1)(b)(iv)’s same-election exception for judges who were themselves candidates.

Citations and references

• Illinois Supreme Court Rules 67A(1)(b) and 67B(1)(b)(iv).

See also

• IL Judicial Ethics Op. 1994-21: Political gathering

Source

• Landing page: Illinois Judicial Ethics Committee Opinion 1994-11