New Jersey refuses to discipline an attorney for criticism of a judge on the Internet

As an attorney whose license was suspended for criticism of a judge committing misconduct in motions to recuse, I keenly monitor news as to discipline of attorneys for public statements criticizing the government, and especially the judiciary.

In a new development on this issue, the New Jersey Supreme Court recently refused to discipline an attorney who first agreed to pull from his personal website an article criticizing a judge's actions in a certain court case, and then did not actually remove that criticism.

While attorney #JayChatarpaul insisted that criticism of Judge Christine A. Farrington for bias and errors committed during a court proceeding that he described on the Internet was protected by the 1st Amendment - and the court, apparently, agreed with him - the sad reality is that attorney Chatarpaul actually removed that content from the website - it only remained visible through Google search, and even that became the subject of persectuion on behalf of attorney disciplinary authorities.

So, while it is a victory, the victory is incomplete since the attorney's speech was still chilled and the attorney was intimidated by the potential to lose his license and livelihood into pulling the "offending" content criticizing the judge.

But, at least there is a decision refusing to punish an attorney for criticizing a judge in the first place.

So, New Jersey rules contrary to New York on this issue, and that adds to the currently existing split among states.

I will continue to cover the subject of retaliation against attorneys through licensing process for criticizing judicial incompetence and misconduct.

Stay tuned.