A federal judge in Fort Wayne, Indiana has stepped in to block an Indiana Supreme Court decision upholding a rule that prohibits “judicial candidates from responding to questionnaires about their positions on issues.”

Of course, no one wants judicial candidates handing out pledges on how they would vote on specific cases. Prospective judges who did so would rightly win little public support. But broader prohibitions that restrict general discussions about issues and judicial philosophy by judicial candidates run afoul of the First Amendment.

In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court (Republican Party of Minnesota vs. White) (text of decision is available here) struck down an effort by the Minnesota Supreme Court to restrict judicial candidates from discussing their views with voters: “The Minnesota Supreme Court’s canon of judicial conduct prohibiting candidates for judicial election from announcing their views on disputed legal and political issues violates the First Amendment.”