Today the Judicial Council of the Second Circuit issued a memorandum and order in relation to complaints against Second Circuit Judge Guido Calabresi for remarks made about President Bush at an ACS event. The council agreed that Judge Calabresi was properly admonished publicly by the Chief Judge of the circuit for advocating that President Bush not be reelected. This was found to violate a canon of the relevant judicial code. But the council disagreed that Judge Calabresi’s negative remarks about Bush v. Gore were grounds for admonition: “As shown by the closely divided vote in the Bush v. Gore decision itself, and numerous analyses of that decision, reasonable people disagree over the soundness of the opinions in that case….Nothing in the Judge’s comments about that decision raises an issue of competence.” (Page 14.)
Thanks to Howard Bashman for the pointer.