During election seasons over the years, the Morning Journal editorial board has interviewed candidates in contested races before deciding who should be given the newspaper’s endorsement, and some of those interviewed have been those running for the Ohio Supreme Court.

Those interviews have at times been somewhat awkward for both the candidate and the editorial board. Why? Because candidates for judge are usually precluded from answering questions concerning pending cases and are limited to discussing their personal judicial philosophy. They are also ethically prohibited from criticizing decisions made by other judges.

Because of this we were both surprised and bothered by state supreme court Justice William O’Neill’s recent announcement that he is in favor of full marijuana legalization in our state.

O’Neill, who is prohibited from seeking another term on the court because of the mandatory judicial retirement age of 70, announced earlier in the year he is considering a run for governor in 2018. Given that some judges — especially Democrats like O’Neill — are frequently accused of substituting their political opinions for the law, he should have stepped down immediately rather than open himself to criticism that any decision he makes would be politically motivated.

In May, O’Neill took it a step further by announcing he favors legalization of marijuana, which is nothing more than using his position as a justice to campaign from the bench. O’Neill still has 19 months to serve on the court, although he has promised to step down by the end of 2017 if he runs for governor. Until then, how will his public announcement affect any decisions involving marijuana that he may face through the remainder of his judicial term?

Canon 7 of the Ohio Code of Judicial Conduct states, “Judges and judicial candidates should refrain from political activity inappropriate to judicial office.”

How does Justice O’Neill reconcile his behavior with this canon?

O’Neill has a troubling history of being unable to decide whether he wants to be a politician or an unbiased arbiter of the law. O’Neill ran twice for the supreme court before winning on his third try in 2012, but in between he twice ran for Congress and lost.

The ethical thing for O’Neill to do would be resign from the court, regardless of whether he runs for governor. This would also help to restore the integrity of the court which has been brought into question by his announcement.