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Kansas High Court Asked to Decide: Can Judges Fill Out Questionnaires?

Posted Sep 5, 2008, 04:14 pm CDT
By Martha Neil

A federal court has asked the Kansas Supreme Court to weigh in on a question of state law: Can state judges ethically fill out questionnaires that ask them about their opinions on issues that are likely to come before them? On the one hand, judges have a First Amendment right to free speech. But, on the other, the Constitution requires that defendants who come before them get a fair trial.

"This is a clash of constitutional rights, no doubt about it," attorney George Patton, who represents the Kansas Commission on Judicial Qualifications, tells the Associated Press.

A 2002 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court would seem to weigh on the side of Kansas Judicial Watch, which is… Continue reading...

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