Standard 2(E) Refraining from public comment regarding pending or impending cases

1. A judge must abstain from public comment about a pending or impending proceeding in any court and should direct similar abstention on the part of court personnel subject to his or her direction and control. This provision does not prohibit judges or court personnel from speaking on the legal system or the administration of justice, or from explaining for public information the procedures of the court. This provision does not apply to proceedings in which the judge is a litigant in a personal capacity.

2. The requirement that judges abstain from public comment regarding a pending or impending proceeding continues during any appellate process and through final disposition, including disposition after remand. Even after final disposition of a proceeding, a judge must refrain from public comment that would undermine the public’s confidence in the judiciary or its decision making. Public confidence would be undermined, for example, by speech, written or oral, made in a derisive or derogatory tone, such that its overall import is to insult rather than analyze. This prohibition does not limit a judge’s ability to comment on proceedings when such comments are made in the context of ruling on an issue or case, or participating in activities allowed by Canon 2L(2). Moreover, this provision does not prohibit a judge from commenting on proceedings in which the judge is a litigant in a personal capacity or prohibit a judge from writing, lecturing, speaking, or teaching on legal subjects consistent with Standard 1M. In cases such as a writ of mandamus, a judge is a litigant in an official capacity and must not comment publicly.