The California Judges Association, National Association of Women Judges and the American Judges Association present a collaborative resource guide for judicial independence. The following resources include presentations, handouts, how-to guides, and articles related to the importance of a free and impartial judiciary:

California Judges Association: The Judicial Fairness Coalition (JFC) is a committee of the California Judges Association. Founded in 2018 in response to as a result of the overwhelming support in the judicial and legal communities to promptly and strategically respond to unfair criticism and false and misleading information against justices, judges and the judiciary and stand together to affirm the independence of the judiciary. The JFC is a statewide coalition of active and retired justices and judges, bar associations and their leaders, and law school deans and professors.

The JFC is dedicated to civic education and community outreach and provides the public with information to help them better understand legal issues related to a specific situation, including the role of judges, the rule of law, the ethical restrictions and responsibilities placed on judges, judicial selection and elections, qualifications that candidates should possess for judicial office, and judicial independence.

Below is a collection of JFC Resources. There are additional resources especially prepared for CJA members, including templated responses to criticism and region-specific resource guides. Please contact CJA’s Executive Director, Nicole Virga Bautista if you would like information on additional resources:

• Judicial Independence Power Point
• Impartial Judiciary Power Point
• How to host a forum on Judicial Independence

National Association of Women Judges: The Informed Voters, Fair Judges Project (IVP), a project of NAWJ, is a non-partisan voter education initiative developed to educate the public about the constitutional role of the judicial branch and to protect our courts from outside influenced. IVP serves as both a reliable resource of accurate nonpartisan judicial information and a support system for judges seeking to protect fair and impartial courts.

• Educational non-partisan materials for use with community presentations;
• Jury assembly educational resources including an Emmy Award-winning video; and
• Services for customizing materials and presentations on the judicial branch and judicial selection for your state.

Below is a collection of IVP resources. More can be found at the IVP Webpage

• Judicial Selection Video (available to download and share)
• Judicial Accountability
• Judicial Impartiality
• Evaluating Judges
• Evaluating Trial Court Judges
• Evaluating Appellate Court Justices
• Keep politics out of the courtroom

American Judges Association (AJA): The AJA is a national organization of judges, which is independent of any governmental entity or court organization. The AJA works to promote and improve the effective administration of justice AND maintain the status and independence of the judiciary by acting to assure that courts: always have due process, are fair, are just and accessible to all. AJA provides the highest quality of continuing professional development for judges and provides multiple models for the peer mentoring for our judicial colleague. AJA also provides a variety of platforms and strategies for the exchange of new ideas among all judges and encourages the role of judges as teachers so that the public is informed about the place and value of courts in the Democratic societies where they live.

Below are articles provided by the AJA:

• Toward a Judiciary Both Independent and Accountable
• How Much Independent Judicial Research Is Appropriate?
• Thoughts About Enriching Judicial Independence by Improving the Retention Vote Phase of Appointive Selection Systems

Additional Items for Reference:

1. ABA Rapid Response to Criticism Protocol
2. Judicial independence needs to be protected from both internal and external threats, By Justice Ming Chin
3. ABOTA - Judicial Independence
4. CALABOTA Rapid Response Protocol
5. California Lawyers Association Public Comment Policy
6. National Center for State Courts Judicial Administration Resource Guide
7. Federal Judicial Center JI
8. Judicial Independence and Impartiality of Judiciary US UK and Pakistan (2018)
9. NC Bar Judicial Independence Animation
10. The Politics of Judicial Independence (Peabody)
11. Judicial Independence - Oxford Handbooks
12. Judicial Independence and the American Constitution
13. Judicial Independence: A Functional Perspective
14. Examining the Development of Judicial Independence
15. Courts & Elections: Incompatible Values? Issues affecting the independence of the judiciary