Reminder: Twitter is a public medium. A Kansas appeals court research attorney attending an ethics hearing learned this the hard way. She has been suspended from her job pending an investigation of her impertinent tweets during an ethics hearing of Phill Kline, the state's former attorney general, whom she tweeted was a "naughty boy" and "douchbag." The hearing before the Kansas Supreme Court, broadcast live, was on charges stemming from Kline’s investigations of abortion providers as Kansas attorney general and Johnson County district attorney. Five of seven justices recused themselves because some charges involved Kline’s conduct before the supreme court; the justices were replaced by five lower court judges.
The ABA Journal reports that the tweeting lawyer has Herr sent the AP this statement of apology:
I didn't stop to think that in addition to communicating with a few of my friends on Twitter I was also communicating with the public at large, which was not appropriate for someone who works for the court system. I apologize that because the comments were made on Twitter—and thus public—that they were perceived as a reflection on the Kansas courts.
