Litigation

O?Connor: Didn?t Authorize NV Robo-Call Message

By Peter Hardin

Nevada voters who were awoken after midnight recently with robo-calls featuring a recording from retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor aren’t the only ones who are unhappy.

Some questions have been raised about Justice O’Connor’s activity, and according to the Blog of Legal Times, she said in a statement today about the calls in support of a ballot initiative for merit selection of Nevada judges and high-court justices:

“I did not authorize the use of my recorded statement as part of automated telephone calls to Nevada residents, and I regret that the statement was used in this way. In addition, I view my efforts in support of judicial reform as consistent with the Code of Conduct for U.S. Judges.?

While a number of news media articles touched on the timing of the robo-calls–and ultimately, the firing of the company responsible–in National Review Online, Ed Whelan went further to ask, “Do the ethics rules governing federal judges really permit a federal judge to robo-call voters in support of a ballot initiative?” He pointed out that Justice O’Connor can sit in on cases for other federal judges.

In BLT Blog, veteran Supreme Court watcher Tony Mauro wrote that neither two specific canons of federal judicial conduct (which were cited by Whalen) “nor any other part of the code of conduct for federal judges applies to Supreme Court justices, sitting or retired.”

Jeffrey Shaman, a judicial ethics expert at DePaul University College of Law, told BLT Blog, “She has a special expertise about these matters, and I don’t see anything wrong with her speaking out about a matter of public concern like this.”

You can learn more from Gavel Grab about the ballot initiative in Nevada.

Full post as published by The Gavel on October 27, 2010 (boomark / email).