WOLFSON v. CONCANNON

No. 11-17634.

750 F.3d 1145 (2014)

Randolph WOLFSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Colleen CONCANNON, in her official capacity as member of the Arizona Commission on Judicial Conduct; Louis Frank Dominguez, in his official capacity as member of the Arizona Commission on Judicial Conduct; Peter J. Eckerstrom, in his official capacity as member of the Arizona Commission on Judicial Conduct; George H. Foster, in his official capacity as member of the Arizona Commission on Judicial Conduct; Sherry L. Geisler, in her official capacity as member of the Arizona Commission on Judicial Conduct; Michael O. Miller, in his official capacity as member of the Arizona Commission on Judicial Conduct; Angela H. Sifuentes, in her official capacity as secretary of the Arizona Commission on Judicial Conduct; Catherine M. Stewart, in her official capacity as member of the Arizona Commission on Judicial Conduct; J. Tyrell Taber, in his official capacity as member of the Arizona Commission on Judicial Conduct; Lawrence F. Winthrop, in his official capacity as member of the Arizona Commission on Judicial Conduct; Maret Vessella, Chief Bar Counsel of the State Bar of Arizona, Defendants-Appellees.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Filed May 9, 2014.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

Anita Y. Woudenberg (argued), The Bopp Law Firm, Terre Haute, IN, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Charles A. Grube (argued), Assistant Attorney General, Arizona Attorney General's Office, Phoenix, AZ, for Defendants-Appellees Colleen Concannon, Louis Frank Dominguez, Peter J. Eckerstrom, George H. Foster, Sherry L. Geisler, Michael O. Miller, Angela H. Sifuentes, Catherine M. Stewart, Tyrell Taber, and Lawrence F. Winthrop in their official capacities as members of the Arizona Commission on Judicial Conduct; Kimberly A. Demarchi (argued), Lewis Roca Rothgerber LLP, Phoenix, AR, for Defendant-Appellee Maret Vessella, Chief Bar Counsel of the State Bar of Arizona.

Before: RICHARD A. PAEZ, MARSHA S. BERZON, and RICHARD C. TALLMAN, Circuit Judges.


OPINION

PAEZ, Circuit Judge:

A state sets itself on a collision course with the First Amendment when it chooses to popularly elect its judges but restricts a candidate's campaign speech. The conflict arises from the fundamental tension between the ideal of apolitical judicial independence and the critical nature of unfettered speech in the electoral political process. Here we must decide whether several provisions...

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