Judges’ Ties to Federalist, American Constitution Societies Eyed (Corrected)

The legal community should weigh in on a draft judicial ethics proposal discouraging judges from membership in the conservative Federalist Society or the progressive American Constitution Society, a legal ethics scholar said.

Although seeking outside comment isn’t the normal process for the type of change being contemplated to the judicial Code of Conduct, “most advisory opinions don’t arouse nearly the interest that this one is arousing,” said Arthur D. Hellman, a judicial ethics expert at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

The draft advisory opinion by the U.S. Judicial Conference Committee on Codes of Conduct says judicial membership ...