The State Bar Association of North Dakota Summer 2013 Gavel Magazine | Page 33

108 believe the new approach defeats the purpose of providing guidance to the states and heightens the burden for litigants and their lawyers. In contrast, Resolution 108 proposes specific amendments to Model Code Rule 2.11(A)(4), it is argued that the changes, although rather technical, are designed and serve solely to clarify ambiguities and broaden the scope to address pertinent activities.

Why does all this matter? Obviously few things are more essential to the rule of law than the perception by the public and litigants that judges are impartial. Financial contributions mean something. By 2009 in excess of $206 million was contributed nationwide to judicial campaign. That compares to just $83 million in campaign contributions a decade earlier. The question of potential judicial bias stemming from financial contributions has been

addressed in recent court cases. Caperton v. A.T. Massey, 129 S.Ct. 2252 (2009). The perception problem will not disappear. The mandate of the HOD from 2011 asked for this debate and it now has two contrasting proposals which promise to elicit significant debate on the floor. It promises to be a most interesting discussion on an extraordinarily important subject. As always the entire calendar of the work of the House is available through the ABA website or by contacting the undersigned.

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The Gavel Summer2013

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