The National Law Journal reports, “Judges had best be careful with the tweeting and the friending, the American Bar Association has warned in issuing guidelines for jurists’ use of social media.” The Journal continues, “The ABA released its ethics opinion on February 21, following moves by a variety of states to address judges’ use of sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Issued by the Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility, the opinion advises judges that, in general, they can post, connect, comment, tweet and ‘like’ as much as anyone else. ‘Social interactions of all kinds, including ESM [electronic social media], can be beneficial to judges to prevent them from being thought of as isolated or out of touch,’ the committee wrote. Even so, judges must keep in mind their overarching ethical obligation to promote public confidence in the judiciary and appear unbiased, the committee wrote. ‘This requires that the judge be sensitive to the appearance of relationships with others.’”
From the American Association for Justice news release.
