Tennessee Judge Publicly Reprimanded For Holding Press Conference For Campaign In Courtroom

Image Credit: City of Knoxville – Government / Facebook

The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –

A Tennessee Judge has been publicly reprimanded for holding a press conference for his reelection campaign in his courtroom where members of the press were in attendance.

Judge John Rosson violated a Tennessee Code of Judicial Conduct rule by holding the press conference shortly before earling voting on October 11th, 2023, during which former opponents Mary Ward and Andrew Beamer gave Rosson’s campaign their endorsement.

According to the Code of Judicial Conduct, current judges and candidates are not permitted to use court facilities, staff, or any other resources for their campaigns. In addition, the Knoxville City Code of Ordinances says that city officials are not allowed to use either municipal equipment, facilities, supplies, or time for what amounts to personal gain.

In addition to accepting endorsements during the press conference, Rosson also made a campaign speech and took election-related questions from the media. He also asked those who would see the press conference later to vote for him.

Although Rosson has been municipal judge for 36 years, he claimed he was unaware of breaking rules and blamed the misstep on not having had to run a campaign in two decades.

“I’m sorry, I should have done more research,” said Rosson. “I did try to check into it, that’s the only person I knew who to call, the Board of Judicial Conduct but I couldn’t get a response from them and I was under some pressure to get this out of the way. I apologize.”

In a letter released publicly on November 15th, 2023, the Board of Judicial Conduct wrote to Rosson saying, “As an experienced judge with thirty-six years on the bench, you should have known that it was improper to hold a campaign event in your courtroom. In doing so, you leveraged judicial office for your own purposes, something the ethics rules prohibit. As a result, the investigative panel decided to impose a public reprimand, which you have accepted.”

Rosson, who took full responsibility for his mistakes, has no disciplinary history as a judge. However his campaign media volunteer, Mona Nair, made an attempt to justify the violation, claiming that the press conference took place in the courtroom because part of the story was showcasing improvements that Rosson had made to the room.

Rosson’s opponent, Tyler Caviness, said at the time that he was concerned over what seemed a “clear reading of the rule” but chose not to file an official complaint.

In the end, Rosson failed to retain his position as judge, losing the election to 32-year-old Caviness who won with 61% of the votes.

About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.