Rule 4.2 Political and Campaign Activities of Judges in Retention Elections

(A) A judge in a nonpartisan retention election shall:

(1) act at all times in a manner consistent with the independence, integrity, and impartiality of the judiciary;

(2) comply with all applicable election, election campaign, and election campaign fund-raising laws and regulations;

(3) review and approve the content of all campaign statements and materials produced by the judge or his or her campaign committee, as authorized by Rule 4.3, before their dissemination; and

(4) take reasonable measures to ensure that other persons do not undertake on behalf of the candidate activities, other than those described in Rule 4.3, that the judge is prohibited from doing by Rule 4.1.

(B) A judge for retention may, unless prohibited by law, and not earlier than January 1 of the retention election year:

(1) establish a campaign committee pursuant to the provisions of Rule 4.3;

(2) speak on behalf of his or her candidacy through any medium, including but not limited to advertisements, websites, or other campaign literature;

(3) seek, accept, or use endorsements from any person or organization other than a partisan political organization; and Comment [1] Despite paragraph (B), judges for public retention remain subject to many of the provisions of Rule 4.1. For example, a judge continues to be prohibited from soliciting funds for a political organization, knowingly making false or misleading statements during a campaign, or making certain promises, pledges, or commitments related to future adjudicative duties. See Rule 4.1. [2] In nonpartisan public retention elections, paragraph (B)(5) prohibits a judge from seeking, accepting, or using nominations or endorsements from a partisan political organization.