Essere o apparire? L’imparzialità dei magistrati tra questioni irrisolte e nuove sfide nel diritto costituzionale comparato

To be or to appear? The impartiality of judges between unsolved issues and new challenges in comparative constitutional law

Abstract

This paper aims at examining the scope of the criteria for judicial impartiality and the appearance of impartiality, taking into account the new challenges posed by the advent of social media. To this end, the initial section of the paper is dedicated to a comparative analysis of the criteria of judicial impartiality and of appearance of impartiality within the Italian and US legal systems. This analysis aims to elucidate the limitations and potentialities of this instrument. The second part will instead concentrate on developing some considerations, in view of the US regulatory experience, on the desirability of regulating the use of social media by judges and on the function that the criterion of the appearance of impartiality could perform in this context.

Keywords: Judicial impartiality; Appearance of impartiality; Italy; United States; Social media