ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the effects of the canons of ethics on the likelihood of state Supreme Court candidates running television ads, the amount of advertising they engage in, and the messages expressed in those ads. Television advertising by candidates, interest groups, and parties has drawn criticism and been held up by judicial reformers as a key aspect of politicized elections that threaten judicial independence. Transferring accountability mechanisms from those primarily controlled by the judiciary itself to those that are external to the courts is, especially for Traditionalists, inherently more threatening to independence. A large body of literature examines influences on campaign advertising and messaging, but for these purposes it is sufficient to highlight three characteristics of advertising in modern political campaigns. The chapter demonstrates that the codes of conduct have some of the effects intended by Traditionalists and anticipated by political science theory.
