Justice Defends Appearance At Anti-Abortion Rally

State Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders defended himself Tuesday against allegations that his remarks to an anti-abortion rally on the Capitol steps violated the state’s Judicial Code of Conduct.

“I have personal opinions about every issue,” Sanders told a state Commission on Judicial Conduct hearing.

“I’m not a judge because of my preferences. I’m a judge because of my willingness to take the law and apply it to a set of circumstances,” he said. “I think that’s why we have judges - to draw from legal sources and not to impose personal preferences.”

Sanders is the first Supreme Court justice in the commission’s 17-year history to be accused of violating provisions of the code that bar judges and judicial candidates from participating in political causes they could later be asked to rule on.

The commission’s statement of charges says Sanders’ remarks at the rally serve “to diminish rather than promote public confidence in the integrity, impartiality and independence of the judiciary.”

Sanders contends the allegations violate his constitutional guarantees of free speech and due process, and that he was singled out because the anti-abortion cause is not popular in some quarters.

The panel’s decision - not expected for several months - could allow judges and candidates for the bench to speak more freely, or it could lead to Sanders’ removal from the bench.

If found to have violated the code, Sanders could be admonished, reprimanded or censured. If censured, the commission could recommend that his colleagues on the Supreme Court remove him from office. He could appeal to a panel of state Appeals Court judges.

At issue is a 98-word speech Sanders made Jan. 26, 1996 - an hour after he was sworn in as a justice - to anti-abortion protesters at the annual “March for Life” rally at the Capitol.

Sanders, 51, never mentioned abortion, and didn’t cite any laws or indicate how he’d rule if an abortion case reached the Supreme Court. He spoke of “our mutual pursuit of justice” and the need to protect “innocent human life.” He carried a red rose, a symbol of the antiabortion movement.

Sanders said he went to the rally after his swearing-in ceremony “to join and witness that all life is sacred,” as an ad promoting the event had said. He said he took the rose from his swearing-in reception because the ad asked people to bring roses.

Sanders admitted he had asked - rather than been invited - to address the gathering, but said he did so simply because he thought some of his supporters would be there “and I wanted to express my thanks.”

Don Marmaduke, a Portland attorney presenting the commission’s case, pressed Sanders on whether he knew the political nature of the rally and that the rose was a symbol of the anti-abortion movement.

Sanders said he did not.

He said he was at the rally for only three or four minutes and didn’t listen to any other speeches, including numerous ones by various legislators.

“I wanted to say something that was relevant to their theme and relevant to my position,” he said, adding that he stood by his comment in the speech that “nothing is … more fundamental in our legal system than the preservation and protection of innocent human life.”

In his opening statement, Marmaduke contended Sanders’ comments at the rally undermined public confidence in the impartiality of the state’s judicial system.

“When a person elects to don the robes and become a judge, a justice, he changes his role and crosses the threshold of becoming an important member of the state,” Marmaduke said.

“He also gives up some of the freedoms of a private citizen” in terms of unfettered public discourse. Marmaduke said Sanders’ appearance at the March for Life rally had political overtones because, among other things, it occurred near the anniversary of the Roe vs Wade abortion ruling, it was held on the steps of the state Capitol, and it occurred when the Legislature was considering legislation related to abortion.