Case Name: AMENDMENT TO CODE OF JUDICIAL CONDUCT, CANON 7 (POLITICAL ACTIVITY)
Court: Florida Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 2005-03-10
Citations: 897 So. 2d 1262
Docket Number: No. SC03-1904
Parties: AMENDMENT TO CODE OF JUDICIAL CONDUCT, CANON 7 (POLITICAL ACTIVITY).
Judges: PARIENTE, C.J., and WELLS, ANSTEAD, QUINCE, CANTERO, and BELL, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 897
Pages: 1262–1268

Head Matter:
AMENDMENT TO CODE OF JUDICIAL CONDUCT, CANON 7 (POLITICAL ACTIVITY).
No. SC03-1904.
Supreme Court of Florida.
March 10, 2005.
Phyllis Kotey, Chair, Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee, Gainesville, FL, and Marjorie Gadarian Graham, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, for Petitioners.
Ralph B. Fisher, pro se, of Fisher’s Law Office, P.A., Lutz, FL, Responding with comments.

Opinion:
PER CURIAM.
The Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee (Committee) petitions this Court to consider an amendment to the Florida Code of Judicial Conduct. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 2(a), Fla. Const. We adopt the amendment as proposed.
In our recent opinion In re Kinsey, 842 So.2d 77 (Fla.2003), we expressed concern over "whether it is appropriate for a judicial candidate to make public comments on pending cases where such comments could affect their future outcomes." Id. at 91. We referred this matter to the Committee for study. As a result of this request, the Committee proposed that we amend Canon 7A(3)(d) to add a provision that states that a judicial candidate shall not:
(iv) while a proceeding is pending or impending in any court, make any public comment that might reasonably be ex pected to affect its outcome or impair its fairness or make any nonpublic comment that might substantially interfere with a fair trial or hearing. This section does not apply to proceedings in which the judicial candidate is a litigant in a personal capacity.
The Committee also proposed modifying the Commentary on Canon 7A(3)(d) to delete a reference to Canon 3B(9). Canon 3B(9) contains a similar prohibition on public comment by judges, but it did not apply to judicial candidates. With the adoption of the amendment to Canon 7, the reference in the commentary to Canon 3B(9) is no longer necessary. These proposed revisions were published in The Florida Bar News for comment. One comment was received. Having considered the proposed amendment and the comment, we adopt the amendment as proposed.
Accordingly, we hereby amend Canon 7 of the Florida Code of Judicial Conduct as set forth in the attached appendix. The effect of this addition to the Code is to hold both judges and non-judge judicial candidates to the same standard in regard to commenting on pending or impending eases. New language is indicated by underlining, and deletions are indicated by struck-through type. The amendment is effective immediately.
We also refer for study by the Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee the question of whether there are provisions of Canon 3 that should apply to all judicial candidates.
It is so ordered.
PARIENTE, C.J., and WELLS, ANSTEAD, QUINCE, CANTERO, and BELL, JJ., concur.
LEWIS, J., concurs in result only with an opinion.