Social Media and Other Online Activity

This is a selection of published Advisory Committee opinions involving a judge's use of social media and certain other online activities.  It is not an exhaustive compilation, but only a starting point for research.  

Important Note: All comments reflect staff counsel's understanding and analysis of selected opinions, and do not necessarily reflect the Advisory Committee’s views as expressed in its full, published opinions.

Only a written opinion from the Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics can provide the statutory protection of Judiciary Law § 212(2)(l)(iv).

Quick Outline and Navigation Guide

Personal Social Media Accounts

The Committee set forth its general approach to analyzing the use of social media and other developing technologies in Opinion 08-176.

  • 08-176 Provided that the judge otherwise complies with the Rules Governing Judicial Conduct, he/she may join and make use of an Internet-based social network. A judge choosing to do so should exercise an appropriate degree of discretion in how he/she uses the social network and should stay abreast of the features of any such service he/she uses as new developments may impact his/her duties under the Rules.
  • 22-119 A judge may maintain personal social media accounts, subject to generally applicable limitations on judicial speech and conduct.
  • 20-58 A part-time lawyer judge must not publish his/her judicial decisions on his/her personal social media website, where doing so may appear to (1) invite discussion, comment, or other input from members of the public or (2) indirectly promote his/her law practice.

Internet Blogs, Podcasts, and Live-Streaming

Note: See "Judicial Campaigns" below for use of social media as a judicial candidate within the applicable window period. 

  • 10-138 May a judge maintain an internet blog and comment on current events?
  • 23-01 A full-time judge may create and participate in a series of non-commercial podcasts to highlight individuals whose accomplishments have had an inspirational and positive impact on the community, subject to generally applicable limitations on judicial speech and conduct. To avoid any possible perception that the judge intends to lend judicial prestige to the individuals the judge selects to interview, the judge should not refer to their judicial status in connection with the podcast.
  • 16-05 A full-time judge may participate in non-commercial podcasts about New York legal issues, or science fiction and comic book characters and legal issues that may arise in fictional works, subject to generally applicable limitations on judicial speech and conduct, such as the public comment rule. The judge may be identified as a judge, but his/her participation must not be used to promote or market the podcast.
  • 18-126 (1) A full-time judge may not consent to an interview that will be posted exclusively on a private law firm’s website. Learning his/her interview has nonetheless been posted on a law firm’s website, the judge must instruct the firm to remove the post. (2) A judge may not subscribe to a law firm’s blog, even using a personal email address.
  • 18-34 A full-time quasi-judicial official may not appear on a private law firm’s podcast.
  • 15-92(A) A judge may serve as an officer of his/her religious institution, and may preach a sermon and make administrative announcements, but may not solicit tithes or contributions. The judge may allow his/her sermons to be broadcast via live streaming on the internet. 
  • 21-53 A full-time judge may volunteer as an editor for a not-for-profit poetry journal online.

Ex Parte Communications

  • 17-53 (1) A judge who receives a social media message from the victim’s first-degree relative that contains substantive discussion of the case must disclose the ex parte communication to all parties. (2) Recusal is not mandated here and is within the sole discretion of the judge if such a request is made.
  • 20-58 A part-time lawyer judge must not publish his/her judicial decisions on his/her personal social media website, where doing so may appear to (1) invite discussion, comment, or other input from members of the public or (2) indirectly promote his/her law practice.

Public Comment / Legal Advice

  • 18-74 When an administrative judge learns that a full-time judge, in his/her capacity as a parent, has provided legal advice to other parents and impermissibly commented on pending litigation beyond the bounds of the judge’s own direct, personal interest in his/her minor child’s education, the administrative judge (1) must take appropriate action but (2) has full discretion to determine what action is appropriate under the circumstances.
  • 20-58 A part-time lawyer judge must not publish his/her judicial decisions on his/her personal social media website, where doing so may appear to (1) invite discussion, comment, or other input from members of the public or (2) indirectly promote his/her law practice.

Disqualification

  • 13-39 Must a judge, at the request of the defendant and/or, his/her attorney, exercise recusal in a criminal matter solely because the judge is “Facebook friends” with the parents or guardians of certain minors who allegedly were affected by the defendant’s conduct?
  • 17-53 (1) A judge who receives a social media message from the victim’s first-degree relative that contains substantive discussion of the case must disclose the ex parte communication to all parties. (2) Recusal is not mandated here and is within the sole discretion of the judge if such a request is made.
  • 18-102 Assuming he/she can be fair and impartial, a newly elected judge may preside in cases of a lawyer who (a) formerly served on the executive committee of the judge’s local political party providing social media and website help to the party’s entire slate of candidates and (b) is an acquaintance who does not socialize privately with the judge but only interacts with him/her as parents of very young children during play dates and birthday parties. On these facts, neither disclosure nor disqualification is required.

Extra-Judicial Activities Online 

In general, the same principles apply to a judge's extra-judicial activities, whether they take place online or in-person.  Here are a few examples of advisory opinions addressing various online activities.

  • Publicizing Judge's Own Book or Classes  
    • 18-106 A full time court attorney-referee (1) may not teach yoga or meditation classes for a for-profit yoga studio, even if neither the studio nor the referee will benefit financially, but (2) may teach such classes for a not-for-profit organization and may use social media to publicize them.
    • 16-06 (1) A full-time judge may generally publicize his/her book and participate in book signing and other promotional events the publisher organizes, but where the work is a children’s book unrelated to the law, the judge may not personally participate in promotions that specifically target attorneys or the legal profession. Thus, the judge may participate in book-signing events at libraries, schools, civic organizations, or shopping centers, but not at bar associations or law firms. The judge may spread news of its publication [by social media or otherwise] to friends, family or the general public, but may not aim at attorneys. The judge may read the book at a school, provide complimentary copies to friends, family, libraries, and members of the public and advise, on request, where the book may be purchased. (2) A judge who has written a children’s book may permit the use of his/her judicial title and a photograph, taken while wearing his/her judicial robe, on the book’s back cover.
  • Attending or Speaking at NON-Political Online Events
    • 21-59(A) A judge may speak at a victim impact panel in a jurisdiction other than that where the judge presides, but when the program is conducted online as a remote or virtual program, the judge must (1) advise the agency that the judge’s presentation is solely for program participants and must not be made available to a broader audience and (2) direct the agency to prohibit recording or distribution of the judge’s presentation by attendees.
    • 21-114(B) A full-time judge may attend a law firm’s online “launch party” hosted by an attorney and law firm who do not appear before the judge.
    • 21-52 May a full-time judge, who is a poet by avocation, share their poetry at free online creative arts panels, organized by non-commercial entities (a not-for-profit museum and a state university), and accept an honorarium from them?
  • Posting Online Reviews
    • 20-85 A judge may write and post a book review online, provided it is not for the purpose of promoting the book’s sale. The judge must not authorize use of the review on the book jacket or elsewhere to promote sales of the book.
    • 19-87 A judge may not write and publish an online review of a personal vacation or a professional vacation organized by a bar association or other professional organization.
    • cf. 22-19 A judge must not provide a testimonial for use in a not-for-profit organization’s marketing materials, including their website, handbook, and social media pages.

Fund-Raising

The ban on a judge's personal solicitation of funds is very broad.  In general, judges should not re-post, forward, or share fund-raising invitations, including by social media or email, even if the donations would be made directly to the organization without passing through the judge's hands.  

  • By Judge:
    • 22-158 A judge may not raise funds from friends, neighbors, or acquaintances, but may create an online fund-raising tool if it will be used only to solicit donations from family members.

Nonjudicial court personnel should look to Part 50 and the Nonjudicial Ethics Helpline for guidance.    

  • By Court Personnel:
    • 17-168 (1) A judge may permit his/her court attorney to (a) host fund-raisers away from the courthouse during non-working hours to offset costs associated with the court attorney’s international adoption and (b) use personal social media accounts to promote the fund-raisers. (2) The judge need not prohibit the court attorney from accepting donations from attorneys under Part 100, but the judge (a) must not permit any contributions to be made or fund-raising activities to occur during working hours or on court property and (b) must insulate him/her from all matters involving those attorneys. (3) The judge may attend the court attorney’s fund-raisers and make contributions from his/her personal funds but may not assist with any solicitation.
    • 18-155 May a judge permit their principal court attorney to engage in charitable fund-raising in memory of a deceased relative online? 

Hosting an Official Court Website; Shared Internet Services; Judicial Independence

  • Personal/Independent "Judicial" Websites
    • 14-05 It is impermissible to host a court website on a social network [such as Facebook] that will display third-party advertisements in connection with the court’s page.
    • 12-35 If a judge of a local justice court concludes that his/her court is not adequately included on either the Unified Court System's website or on the local municipality's website, the judge may create and maintain an independent website for the justice court itself, subject to certain limitations.
    • 10-172 May a judge maintain a personal judicial website? 
    • cf. 20-58 A part-time lawyer judge must not publish his/her judicial decisions on his/her personal social media website, where doing so may appear to (1) invite discussion, comment, or other input from members of the public or (2) indirectly promote his/her law practice.
  • Shared Internet Services or Computer System
    • 20-124 May a village justice court share internet access with the village police, which shares the same building?
    • 93-67 It is permissible for a town court to allow its computerized files to be made part of a town computer network system, provided the judges of the town court are satisfied that the confidentiality of court matters will be safeguarded.
    • 20-166 May a town justice sign a form acknowledging receipt of and compliance with an Information Resources and Technology Acceptable Use Policy recently adopted by their town board?

Judicial Campaigns

Examples of advisory opinions addressing various uses of social media or other online activities or services during the applicable window period in which a judge or non-judge is seeking election or re-election to judicial office. 

Please see the Judicial Campaign Ethics Handbook for additional information or reach out to the Judicial Campaign Ethics Center for expedited guidance on your specific circumstances. 

  • Advertising and General Voter Outreach 
    • 22-155 A judge who is seeking election or re-election to judicial office may, during the applicable window period, record and post short videos on their personal social media accounts for the purpose of connecting with the public to highlight the judge’s qualifications for judicial office and provide educational content on alternate dispute resolution and mediation. At the end of the window period, the judge must remove the videos from all social media accounts.
    • 21-30 Provided a judicial candidate determines they will receive fair value for the expenditure, the candidate may permit their campaign committee to purchase subscriptions during the window period to a web-based service that allows the judge’s campaign committee to communicate live with voters by telephone or text for a flat per-call fee. [Thrutalkdialer]
    • 13-126 During the applicable window period, a judicial candidate may use an email signature block on his/her personal email which requests non-financial support from voters and provides links to the campaign committee’s social media page and campaign website.
  • Following or Connecting with Other Candidates 
    • 15-121 Subject to certain limitations, a judicial candidate may permit his/her campaign committee to establish Facebook connections with the campaign committees of other candidates on the same slate. 
    • 21-40 Subject to generally applicable limitations on campaign speech and conduct, a judicial candidate may permit their campaign committee to establish a Twitter account for campaign purposes and use it to “follow” the judge’s election opponent and/or other candidates on Twitter during the window period. 
    • 12-84/12-95(B)-(G) A judicial candidate may include a link from his/her campaign website to a political organization’s website which contains information promoting the judicial candidate’s campaign.
  • Campaign Fund-Raising  
    • 19-37 A judicial candidate’s campaign committee may use an electronic event invitation system that charges 2% of the ticket price per ticket sold to distribute fund-raising invitations and sell tickets. [Eventbrite]
    • 18-69 Subject to compliance with all applicable rules and statutes, a judicial candidate may permit a member of his/her campaign committee to manage a private GoFundMe account to raise contributions for the campaign, provided (1) the candidate is insulated from knowing who contributed and (2) such contributions are properly reported by the campaign treasurer.
    • 15-83 A judicial candidate may, if permitted by law, personally guarantee to Paypal and credit card issuers that he/she will use his/her personal funds to repay them for “chargebacks” for monies mistakenly or wrongfully paid to the candidate’s campaign. 
    • 21-30 Provided a judicial candidate determines they will receive fair value for the expenditure, the candidate may permit their campaign committee to purchase subscriptions during the window period to a web-based service that provides information on potential donors for use by the candidate’s campaign committee for a flat monthly fee. [Call-Time]
  • Attending Virtual Fund-Raisers
    • 20-111 Judicial candidates may attend virtual political fund-raising events during their window period, subject to the usual limitations on price and number of tickets, provided they attend and appear on screen along with other attendees.
  • Disqualification
    • 18-102 Assuming he/she can be fair and impartial, a newly elected judge may preside in cases of a lawyer who (a) formerly served on the executive committee of the judge’s local political party providing social media and website help to the party’s entire slate of candidates and (b) is an acquaintance who does not socialize privately with the judge but only interacts with him/her as parents of very young children during play dates and birthday parties. On these facts, neither disclosure nor disqualification is required.

Business Activities; Winding Down

Please note that full-time judges are subject to many restrictions on their business activities.

  • 22-119 (1) A new full-time judge may liquidate the remaining inventory from a prior business activity on the judge’s personal eBay account. The aggregate profit from any such sales in excess of $150 over the course of a calendar year must be reported as compensation for an extra-judicial activity under Section 100.4(H)(2).

  • 21-22(B) (1) Where a full-time judge solely owns certain rental properties through a solely owned limited liability company, the judge: (a) may advertise those properties via social media or other lawful means, provided such advertisements do not mention the judge’s judicial status; (b) need not prohibit current tenants from forwarding or sharing such advertisements; (c) may, to the extent permitted by law, enter into a business arrangement providing a current tenant with a rent credit for referring new tenants, again assuming the judge’s judicial status will not be referenced; (d) is disqualified, subject to remittal, from presiding over matters involving current tenants; and (e) may not appoint or re-appoint current tenants to positions such as assigned counsel or attorney for the child. (2) If the judge’s relationship with an attorney tenant results in frequent disqualifications, the judge must either terminate the landlord/tenant relationship or divest the investment.

  • 20-58 A part-time lawyer judge must not publish his/her judicial decisions on his/her personal social media website, where doing so may appear to (1) invite discussion, comment, or other input from members of the public or (2) indirectly promote his/her law practice.

Part-Time Attorney Judge's Law Firm Website

Examples of advisory opinions concerning a part-time attorney judge's law firm website.

  • 09-59/09-86 Subject to certain restrictions and otherwise complying with the Rules Governing Judicial Conduct, a part-time judge who practices law may indicate his/her judicial title on the website of the law firm at which he/she practices.

  • 14-158 While a part-time attorney judge may include the designation “Hon.” in the body of their on-line biography, they may not include it in the heading or otherwise display their judicial title in the firm’s list of attorneys. 

  • cf. 20-58 A part-time lawyer judge must not publish his/her judicial decisions on his/her personal social media website, where doing so may appear to (1) invite discussion, comment, or other input from members of the public or (2) indirectly promote his/her law practice.

Disciplinary Decisions

Important Note: The Advisory Committee's sole mission is to help judges comply with the Rules Governing Judicial Conduct.  It has absolutely no disciplinary or investigative functions and cannot comment on past conduct.

The following citation was found by searching the public website of the Commission on Judicial Conduct. It is offered as a courtesy in case it may be of interest. 

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