Judicial candidate Randolph Wolfson filed suit today in federal court in Phoenix to block enforcement of Arizona judicial canons that restrict the ability of state court judicial candidates to engage in ordinary political activities as part of their campaigns.
Mr. Wolfson is a resident of Golden Valley, Arizona, and is a candidate for Superior Court Judge in Mohave County in the 2008 election.
Elections for state court judges in Arizona are partisan. Yet under Arizona law, judicial candidates are significantly limited in their ability to engage in many political activities typical of election campaigns. The Arizona Code of Judicial Conduct limits a judicial candidate's ability to speak on disputed legal or political issues, prohibits candidates from supporting other candidates or ballot initiatives, and bans candidates from personally soliciting campaign contributions.
Mr. Wolfson previously sought to challenge these provisions during the 2006 election. This case was dismissed, however, on the grounds that Mr. Wolfson had not first sought an advisory opinion from the state's Judicial Ethics Advisory Commission as to whether he was prohibited from announcing his views, making endorsements, or personally soliciting money for his campaign. This time, Mr. Wolfson has received such an opinion, Advisory Opinion 08-01, which confirms the limits placed on his speech by the Arizona Code.
According to attorney James Bopp, Jr., lead counsel for the plaintiffs, 'these canons are in direct violation of the First Amendment. Judicial candidates' free speech rights are being unconstitutionally restricted and voters are being deprived of their right to cast an informed vote.' He continues, 'if a state chooses to elect its judges, it has to allow judicial candidates to engage in the sorts of political activities that are a normal part of any political campaign.' Mr. Bopp successfully argued the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Republican Party of Minnesota v. White, 536 U.S. 765 (2002), which held unconstitutional a Minnesota rule that prohibited judicial candidates from 'announc[ing] their views on disputed legal or political issues.'
Mr. Wolfson has asked for a preliminary injunction so that he and other Arizona judicial candidates may campaign freely prior to the November, 2008 election.
The case is Wolfson v. Brammer, et al., case number 08-CV-958. The action was brought by attorneys from the James Madison Center for Free Speech, with the assistance of attorneys from the Alliance Defense Fund. The Complaint and Memorandum supporting the motion for preliminary injunction are available in PDF format online at the James Madison Center's website, www.jamesmadisoncenter.org
_______________
James Bopp, Jr. has a national federal and state election law practice. He is General Counsel for the James Madison Center for Free Speech and Co-Chairman of the Election Law Subcommittee of the Federalist Society.