KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee's Board of Judicial Conduct publicly reprimanded Knoxville's longtime municipal judge over controversy that happened during his failed reelection bid.
Judge John Rosson broke a Tennessee Supreme Court judicial code shortly before early voting began in the Nov. 2023 municipal judge election after he held a campaign event in his courtroom. Rosson held a press conference on Oct. 11 to announce former opponents Mary Ward and Andrew Beamer had endorsed his campaign.
In Canon 4 of the code, Rule 10 states "a judge or a judicial candidate shall not use court staff, facilities, or other court resources in a campaign for judicial office."
Rosson said he was not aware of the rule until after the press conference.
"I apologize, did not mean to break any rules," he said. "I haven't had to run a campaign in 20 years and it's just not something I was thinking about. I should have done more research."
According to a letter sent to Rosson on Nov. 15, the Board of Judicial Conduct formerly reprimanded him a week after he lost the election to 32-year-old Tyler Caviness. Caviness handily won the election with 61% of the vote over Rosson.
"The ethics rules are clear that a judge may not 'make inappropriate use of court premises, staff, stationary, equipment, or other resources,'" the board said. "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."
The board said Rosson accepted the public reprimand and said he offered no excuses for his actions.