Stretton v. Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

OPINION OF THE COURT

WEIS, Circuit Judge.

The Code of Judicial Conduct in force in Pennsylvania states that candidates for a judicial office in an election may not announce their views on disputed legal or political issues. We predict that the state supreme court would construe the restriction to apply only to issues likely to come before the courts. Read in that fashion, the limitation meets constitutional standards and we, therefore, vacate an injunction entered by the district court striking down that provision of the Code. We will affirm the district court’s order sustaining the Code’s ban…