Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael E. Hegarty spoke about a wide range of topics to a Lakewood audience on Tuesday, from judicial ethics and threats against judges to the role of religion in the courtroom.

“In my world, you don’t even want the appearance of impropriety. You want to be above reproach. And so, we actually have to change our lives quite a bit when we take the bench,” said Hegarty, speaking at Colorado Christian University for a Constitution Day event.

Hegarty was responding to an audience question about an enforceable ethics code for the U.S. Supreme Court, which President Joe Biden proposed this summer as part of a package of reforms. Although lower court judges are bound by ethics rules, recent reporting has revealed some justices’ undisclosed luxury gifts or partisan activities in their personal lives, with no official consequence.

Without addressing the notion of a Supreme Court ethics code — “I will leave that to bigger minds than mine,” Hegarty said — he endorsed the idea that judges must be “above the political process.”

“The only political activity I can engage in is voting. I can’t donate. I can’t make any statements for or against a political party or a candidate. And that’s righteous. I believe in that,” Hegarty said.

He also called out attacks against judges as “one of the concerning trends in America.” Reuters reported earlier this year that serious threats requiring investigation more than doubled against federal judges between 2021 and 2023.

“You never know where it’s coming from,” Hegarty said. “The only times I’ve experienced that in my life have been from civil litigants. Someone who had a civil lawsuit for damages and it didn’t go their way and they get mad at the judge.”

He added that it is a problem when judges make decisions in cases based on a fear of what will happen to them, or step down from the bench for personal safety reasons.

“If you can’t find a sanctuary to have your constitutional and statutory rights upheld in a court of law and be assured justice will be done to the best of our ability, what do we have left?” he asked.

Hegarty’s presentation was co-sponsored by the Centennial Institute, which is the conservative think tank based at CCU, and the Mountain States Legal Foundation, a nonprofit law firm that litigates against firearms restrictions, environmental regulations and other issues.

Cristen Wohlgemuth, the president and CEO of Mountain States Legal Foundation, defended the conservative-majority Supreme Court, whose recent decisions included limiting the discretion of regulatory agencies to interpret federal law and striking down the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness program. She praised the court for reining in “an out of control executive branch with all its agencies behaving as this one continues to do.”

“The Supreme Court is forcing every agency, every bureaucrat, every branch of government — they are forcing every one of those organizations back into their constitutional limitations,” Wohlgemuth said.

Hegarty did not directly address her comments, but was asked his views about “attacks” on the Bill of Rights. Asked to elaborate, the questioner alluded to limits on speech imposed by nongovernmental entities like social media companies or employers.

“I don’t have an opinion on that and if I did, I wouldn’t express it,” said Hegarty. “I’m not a constitutional scholar. I have to do this as matter of everyday application. And I leave the big, bright ideas to several pay grades above mine.”

Hegarty, who had two of his children attend CCU, asked the audience to raise their hands if they thought witnesses should place their hand on a Bible while taking an oath in a court, and also whether anyone felt the Ten Commandments should be displayed in courtrooms. Some attendees raised their hands, prompting Hegarty to note he would “probably differ” with their views.

“We don’t just have the free exercise, but we have the Establishment Clause,” he said. “So, we don’t want to coerce anybody toward any religion at all. We are a secular nation. We’re not a sectarian nation. We’re not a theocracy.”

Finally, Hegarty spoke about the biggest change he has seen in his 18 years on the federal bench: the increase in remote appearances as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s made the job a little less enjoyable to have people just be phoning in. I can’t see the expression on their faces. We can’t dialog easily. Phone lines get dropped often,” he said.

Hegarty continued that the technology has allowed people to attend court more easily, but on his end, “it’s made it a lot more difficult.”