Her Dishonor *

In these wildly partisan times, when Americans across the political spectrum question institutions, it’s more important than ever that the judiciary — the foundation of law and order in the U.S.—should be (and should be seen to be) above politics.

The Supreme Court, alas, has allowed itself to be caught up in the politics of the day, but the Supreme Court decides great legal questions. Where most Americans —  most Northern Nevadans — find themselves interacting with the judicial system is in state and local courts. These courts decide the disputes that affect real people in their real lives.

Nevada Lawyer article  - October 2014. 

Which brings us to the sad (and alarming) story of Jennifer Richards, who recently won election as a judge on the Reno Justice Court. Although the National Judicial College recommends that judicial races should be non-partisan (as they are allegedly in Nevada), Richards disregarded the tenets of American jurisprudence in her cynical race to assume the bench.

Democratic Party of Washoe County slate mailer for the General Election 2024. 

For the first time in living memory, Richards ran a judicial race in Nevada as an avowed partisan, discarding generations of Nevada law and tradition that says elections for judges are non-partisan. She appeared on multiple Democratic Party campaign materials, including a slate card where she took her place among recommended candidates, including Reno City Councilman-Schemer-Mayoral Pretender Devon Reese.

The fact that Her Honor — or should we say Her Dishonor?  — is a Democrat is irrelevant. The same would be true if she were an avowed Republican. What is relevant is that by revealing her partisanship, her essential impartiality is called into question.

Democratic Party of Washoe County 

Will Republican parties before her receive a fair hearing? Will her rulings be subject to scrutiny because of her admitted political leanings? Attorneys receiving adverse rulings from Her Dishonor would be required by the canon of ethics to question whether politics played a part in said rulings. It’s easy to imagine a situation in which her docket becomes snarled because every decision she makes becomes the credible subject of review by higher courts.

But Her Dishonor has brought this upon herself (perhaps encouraged by Schemer Reese). These are the fruits, Your Dishonor, of making political what has always been above politics. Ruling? Shame!

• Picon is an equal opportunity, bipartisan source based upon public records. Picon finds it odd that Judge Richards is the only judicial officer to be listed on partisan campaign materials. If anyone has knowledge of a judicial candidate that we have not written about violating the following provision, please let us know:

  Nevada Code of Judicial Conduct Rule 2.3(B) sates: A judge shall not, in the performance of judicial duties, by words or conduct manifest bias or prejudice, or engage in harassment, including but not limited to bias, prejudice, or harassment based upon race, sex, gender, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, age, sexual orientation, marital status, socioeconomic status, or political affiliation, and shall not permit court staff, court officials, or others subject to the judge’s direction and control to do so." 

  
  Additionally, the Nevada Code of Judicial Conduct has been clarified to state:  [6A] Paragraph (C) permits judges or judicial candidates to be involved in limited political activity at any time and also allows them to make a public declaration of candidacy and to make public speeches and appearances at any time. Even though judges in Nevada are chosen by means of nonpartisan elections, judges and candidates for judicial office are occasionally asked at candidates’ forums to identify their political party affiliations. Rule 4.1(C)(2) permits a judge or candidate to identify his or her political party membership upon request. While judges and candidates may properly respond to questions regarding their party affiliation, it is impermissible in campaign materials for them to align themselves with a political party or to affiliate themselves with a political party. Nonetheless, judges and candidates may place their campaign materials on a table designated for the distribution of literature at any gathering regardless of whether the table is sponsored by a particular political party.