Terms of Use

Last Updated: March 13, 2026  |  Effective Date: March 13, 2026

1. Introduction and Acceptance

Welcome to Rate Your Judge (the "Platform"), operated at rateyourjudge.org. These Terms of Use ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the Platform, including all content, features, and functionality.

By visiting our website, creating an account, submitting a review, or otherwise interacting with the Platform in any way, you agree to be legally bound by these Terms and our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated herein by reference. If you are using the Platform on behalf of an organization, you represent that you have authority to bind that organization to these Terms.

2. Purpose of the Platform

Rate Your Judge exists to bring transparency to the American judicial system. Our Platform allows individuals — including litigants, attorneys, legal observers, and members of the public — to share their personal experiences with judges and rate judges on relevant factors such as:

• Fairness and impartiality
• Clarity of rulings and written opinions
• Courtroom demeanor and professionalism
• Knowledge of applicable law
• Efficiency and timeliness of proceedings
• Treatment of all parties before the court

The goal of this Platform is to provide the public with a resource for informed decision-making — not to harass, defame, or unfairly target any individual. All users are expected to engage with this mission in good faith.

Rate Your Judge does not provide legal advice. Nothing on the Platform should be construed as legal counsel or a recommendation to take any particular legal action. For legal advice, consult a qualified attorney licensed in your jurisdiction.

3. Eligibility

To use the Platform, you must:

• Be at least 18 years of age
• Be a resident of or located within the United States
• Not have been previously banned or suspended from the Platform
• Have the legal capacity to enter into a binding agreement

By using the Platform, you represent and warrant that you meet all of the above eligibility requirements. If you do not meet these requirements, you must not use the Platform.

4. User Accounts

4.1 Registration

Some features of the Platform — including submitting reviews and adding judges — require you to register for an account. When registering, you agree to provide accurate, current, and complete information and to keep that information updated. Providing false, inaccurate, or misleading information during registration is grounds for immediate account termination.

4.2 Account Security

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials, including your password. You agree to notify us immediately at contact@rateyourjudge.org if you suspect any unauthorized access to your account. We are not liable for any losses resulting from unauthorized use of your account due to your failure to secure your credentials.

4.3 One Account Per Person

Each user may maintain only one account. Creating multiple accounts to circumvent a ban, inflate ratings, or otherwise manipulate the Platform is prohibited and may result in the permanent suspension of all associated accounts.

4.4 Account Deletion

You may request deletion of your account at any time by contacting us at contact@rateyourjudge.org. Account deletion does not automatically remove reviews you have previously submitted. See our Privacy Policy for more information about data retention.

5. User Conduct

You agree to use the Platform only for lawful purposes and in a manner consistent with these Terms and all applicable federal, state, and local laws. You agree that you will not:

• Use the Platform to harass, threaten, intimidate, stalk, or harm any individual, including judges, court staff, or other users
• Impersonate any person or entity, including falsely claiming to be an attorney, court official, or other legal professional
• Submit reviews on behalf of another person without their knowledge and consent
• Post content that is false, misleading, or that you know to be inaccurate
• Engage in coordinated campaigns to artificially inflate or deflate a judge's ratings
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to any portion of the Platform or its underlying systems
• Use automated tools, bots, or scrapers to access, collect, or interact with the Platform without our written permission
• Interfere with or disrupt the integrity or performance of the Platform
• Upload or transmit viruses, malware, or any other harmful code
• Collect or harvest personal information about other users without their consent
• Use the Platform for any commercial purpose not expressly authorized by Rate Your Judge

6. Review and Rating Standards

Rate Your Judge is only as valuable as the quality and honesty of its reviews. We ask all users to uphold the following standards when submitting reviews:

6.1 Honesty and Accuracy

Submit only reviews based on your own genuine, firsthand experience or observation. Do not submit reviews about cases or proceedings you did not personally witness or participate in. Fabricated or knowingly false reviews are a violation of these Terms and may constitute defamation under applicable law.

6.2 Relevance

Reviews should relate to a judge's conduct in their professional capacity — their actions as a judicial officer. Personal attacks on a judge's appearance, private life, religion, race, gender, or other characteristics unrelated to their judicial performance are not permitted.

6.3 Civility

You may express strong disagreement with a judge's rulings or conduct, but please do so in a respectful and factual manner. Profanity, hate speech, and threats of any kind are not permitted regardless of how strongly you feel about a matter.

6.4 No Confidential Information

Do not include in your review any information that is under seal, subject to a protective order, or that you are otherwise legally prohibited from disclosing. Rate Your Judge is not responsible for any legal consequences arising from a user's disclosure of confidential information.

7. Prohibited Content and Activities

The following types of content are strictly prohibited on the Platform and will be removed upon discovery:

• Defamatory statements — false statements of fact presented as true that damage a person's reputation
• Threats of violence or physical harm directed at any individual
• Hate speech targeting any individual or group based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or other protected characteristics
• Obscene, pornographic, or sexually explicit content
• Content that reveals personally identifiable information about private individuals without their consent (doxxing)
• Content designed to interfere with ongoing legal proceedings or to constitute obstruction of justice
• Spam, chain letters, or other forms of unsolicited bulk content
• Content that violates any third party's copyright, trademark, trade secret, or other intellectual property rights
• Content submitted by someone who is a party to an ongoing case before the reviewed judge that could be construed as ex parte communication

8. User Content License

By submitting any content to the Platform — including reviews, ratings, comments, or judge information — you grant Rate Your Judge a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide license to use, reproduce, display, distribute, modify, adapt, and create derivative works from that content in connection with operating and promoting the Platform.

You retain ownership of your content. This license does not give us the right to sell your content to third parties for their own commercial purposes unrelated to the Platform.

You represent and warrant that: (a) you own or have the necessary rights to submit the content; (b) the content does not infringe any third-party intellectual property or privacy rights; and (c) the content complies with these Terms and all applicable laws.

9. Intellectual Property

All content on the Platform that is not user-generated — including but not limited to the Rate Your Judge logo, website design, text, graphics, software, and the selection and arrangement of content — is owned by Rate Your Judge or its licensors and is protected by United States copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws.

You may not reproduce, copy, distribute, modify, or create derivative works from any Platform content without our prior written permission, except as expressly permitted by these Terms or applicable law.

"Rate Your Judge" and associated logos are trademarks of Rate Your Judge. You may not use these marks without our prior written consent.

10. Judge Profiles and Public Figures

Judges are public officials exercising governmental power. As such, their professional conduct in their judicial capacity is a matter of legitimate public interest and is subject to public commentary, criticism, and review under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

Rate Your Judge publishes profiles of judges based on publicly available information, including their name, jurisdiction, court, and role. The existence of a judge profile on Rate Your Judge does not constitute an endorsement, criticism, or opinion by Rate Your Judge about that judge's character or performance.

If you are a judge and you believe that a review on our Platform is false, defamatory, or otherwise violates these Terms, please contact us at contact@rateyourjudge.org and we will review your complaint promptly. Note that we are not able to remove reviews solely because they are negative or critical of your rulings.

11. Disclaimer of Warranties

THE PLATFORM IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, RATE YOUR JUDGE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO:

• IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT
• WARRANTIES THAT THE PLATFORM WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR SECURE
• WARRANTIES AS TO THE ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, OR COMPLETENESS OF ANY CONTENT ON THE PLATFORM, INCLUDING USER REVIEWS AND RATINGS

Rate Your Judge does not endorse, verify, or guarantee the accuracy of any user-submitted review or rating. Reviews reflect the personal opinions and experiences of their authors and should not be treated as objective fact.

12. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, RATE YOUR JUDGE AND ITS AFFILIATES, OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE PLATFORM, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO:

• Loss of data, revenue, or profits
• Damage to reputation arising from content posted by other users
• Unauthorized access to your account or data
• Any action taken in reliance on content found on the Platform

OUR TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING FROM OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR THE PLATFORM SHALL NOT EXCEED $100 USD OR THE AMOUNT YOU PAID TO US IN THE 12 MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM, WHICHEVER IS GREATER.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties or limitation of liability, so the above may not apply to you in full.

13. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Rate Your Judge, its affiliates, officers, directors, employees, and agents from and against any and all claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to:

• Your use of or access to the Platform
• Any content you submit to the Platform, including any claims that your content is defamatory, infringing, or otherwise unlawful
• Your violation of these Terms
• Your violation of any third party's rights, including intellectual property rights or privacy rights

14. Copyright / DMCA Policy

Rate Your Judge respects intellectual property rights and expects its users to do the same. If you believe that content on the Platform infringes your copyright, you may submit a notice under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to:

DMCA Agent: Rate Your Judge
Email: contact@rateyourjudge.org

Your DMCA notice must include: (1) identification of the copyrighted work claimed to be infringed; (2) identification of the allegedly infringing material and its location on our Platform; (3) your contact information; (4) a statement that you have a good faith belief that the use is not authorized; and (5) a statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on their behalf.

We will respond to valid DMCA notices by removing or disabling access to the allegedly infringing content and, where appropriate, terminating the accounts of repeat infringers.

15. Termination

Rate Your Judge reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to suspend or permanently terminate your account and access to the Platform at any time, with or without notice, for any reason, including but not limited to:

• Violation of these Terms of Use
• Submission of false, defamatory, or otherwise unlawful content
• Conduct that we reasonably believe is harmful to other users, third parties, or the Platform
• Fraudulent activity, including manipulation of ratings
• Failure to pay any amounts owed to us

Upon termination, your right to use the Platform immediately ceases. Sections of these Terms that by their nature should survive termination — including Sections 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, and 16 — shall survive.

You may terminate your use of the Platform at any time by simply discontinuing use and, if you have an account, requesting its deletion.

16. Dispute Resolution and Governing Law

16.1 Governing Law

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Utah, without regard to its conflict of law principles.

16.2 Informal Resolution

Before initiating any formal dispute proceeding, you agree to first contact us at contact@rateyourjudge.org and provide a written description of your dispute and the relief you seek. We will attempt to resolve the dispute informally within 30 days of receiving your notice.

16.3 Binding Arbitration

If informal resolution is unsuccessful, any dispute arising from or relating to these Terms or your use of the Platform shall be resolved by binding arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) under its Consumer Arbitration Rules, rather than in court, except that either party may seek relief in small claims court for disputes within that court's jurisdiction.

16.4 Class Action Waiver

YOU AND RATE YOUR JUDGE AGREE THAT EACH MAY BRING CLAIMS AGAINST THE OTHER ONLY IN YOUR INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY PURPORTED CLASS OR REPRESENTATIVE ACTION.

16.5 Exceptions

Notwithstanding the above, either party may seek emergency injunctive or other equitable relief in any court of competent jurisdiction to prevent actual or threatened infringement, misappropriation, or violation of intellectual property rights or confidential information.

17. Changes to These Terms

We may modify these Terms at any time. When we make material changes, we will update the "Last Updated" date at the top of this page and post a notice on the Platform. For significant changes, we will also notify registered users by email.

Your continued use of the Platform after any changes take effect constitutes your acceptance of the revised Terms. If you do not agree to the new Terms, you must stop using the Platform.

18. Contact Us