Judge’s Facebook Posts Prompt N.M. Ethics Guidance

Recent ethics guidance from the New Mexico Supreme Court shows social media is risky business for judges, scholars told Bloomberg BNA (State v. Thomas, 2016 BL 195991, N.M., 34,042, 6/20/16).

A judge’s Facebook posts about a murder trial on his campaign website prompted the Supreme Court’s guidance in a June 20 opinion by Chief Justice Charles W. Daniels.

Judges “can be tempted by the illusion” that a social media post will reach “only the intended audience,” James Gardner, a professor and interim dean at State University of New York Buffalo Law School, told Bloomberg BNA by e-mail ...