Civic Conversations Covers Judicial Ethics

This month, Civic Conversations welcomes Professor Charles Geyh, a Distinguished Professor of Law at Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law.  A widely recognized expert on judicial conduct, Proerfoess Geyh has served as a witness in a U.S. Senate impeachment trial, leading to dozens of media appearances on the subject. He is also the author of Who Is to Judge: Who is to Judge?: The Perennial Debate Over Whether to Elect or Appoint America’s Judges, a book on the paradox of an elected judiciary in a representative democracy.

In the podcast, Professor Geyh discusses that paradox and shares that the state judicial branch is a mix of appointed and elected judges in Indiana.  However, according to Professor Geyh, each state has a code of judicial ethics and a disciplinary process that works very well.  The contrast is the Supreme Court of the United States, which recently “grudgingly” adopted a voluntary code of conduct.  “I’m taking a wait-and-see approach to see if it works,” said Professor Geyh.  A fan himself of judicial term limits for SCOTUS, Professor Geyh shared that 75% of the American public is also aa fan of term limits of the Supreme Court.