Do Judges Read Letters Sent to Them? Ex Parte and Character Letters

In almost all situations, judges do not read letters sent to them about pending cases. The judicial code of conduct bars judges from considering any communication made outside formal court proceedings, a prohibition known as the ex parte rule. There are real exceptions — character letters routed through a defense attorney before sentencing, victim impact statements from crime victims, and anything filed properly through the court clerk with copies to every other party. Everything else gets screened out, and if it reaches the judge anyway, the judge has to disclose it to the opposing side.

The Rule Against One-Sided Communication

The Code of Conduct for United States Judges states that a judge “should not initiate, permit, or consider ex parte communications or consider other communications concerning a pending or impending matter that are made outside the presence of the parties or their lawyers.”¹ Ex parte simply means one-sided: one party speaks to the judge without the other party knowing.

Fairness depends on both sides seeing the same information. A private letter from one side gives the other no chance to correct errors, challenge claims, or add context. Due process requires that every piece of information the judge weighs comes through a process the other side can see and respond to. Judges enforce this strictly because violations can get a verdict overturned on appeal.

The rule covers everyone — parties, their relatives, friends, employers, coworkers, pastors, anyone with an opinion. It applies in criminal trials, civil suits, family court, and bankruptcy proceedings alike.¹ People representing themselves are not exempt either.

What Happens to a Letter That Arrives Anyway

Many chambers screen incoming mail and return letters with a form notice explaining why the court cannot consider them. But when a letter does land in front of a judge and touches on the substance of a pending case, the code requires the judge to “promptly notify the parties of the subject matter of the communication and allow the parties an opportunity to respond.”¹ The letter goes on the record. The other side gets a copy.

That is why unsolicited letters often backfire. Anything you wrote hoping to help one party ends up in the opponent’s hands, available for use against the person you were trying to help. The judge gives the letter no special weight and may form a negative impression of the improper contact. If your goal was to influence the outcome, the letter is likely to do the opposite.

Character Letters Before Sentencing

This is the one situation where most people writing to a judge actually can get through, and it is probably why you are reading this. If someone you care about is about to be sentenced in a criminal case, you can write a letter the judge will read, provided it travels the right route.

Federal law authorizes sentencing courts to receive and consider any information about a defendant’s “background, character, and conduct,” with no limitation on what they may hear.² That broad authority is what makes character letters possible.

Here is the critical part: address the letter to the judge, but send it to the defense attorney. The attorney reviews every letter, screens for anything that could inadvertently hurt the defendant, checks for personal information that privacy rules require redacting, and attaches the letters as exhibits to the sentencing memorandum filed with the court. Because that filing goes through the court’s system, the prosecution automatically receives copies. Both sides see the same material, which satisfies the rule against ex parte contact. A letter mailed straight to the courthouse creates the exact problem described above.

What Judges Actually Find Useful

Judges read dozens of character letters in serious cases, and the effective ones share a few traits. They are personal and specific: a neighbor describing six years of watching the defendant coach Little League, with particular moments of generosity, carries weight that a generic “he’s a good person” letter does not. They acknowledge the situation honestly. A letter that says “I know what he did was wrong, and here is why I believe he can do better” reads as credible. One that pretends the crime did not happen does not.

Avoid legal arguments about the sentence. Avoid opinions on guilt. Avoid attacks on the victim or the prosecution. Keep it to one page. Write only about what you personally witnessed. Do not send identical letters from multiple people — judges spot form letters immediately.

How Letters Reach the Judge Through Counsel

Before sentencing, the defense attorney files a sentencing memorandum arguing for a particular outcome, with character letters attached as exhibits. At the hearing, the court must give defense counsel an opportunity to speak and must address the defendant personally so they can offer information that might reduce the sentence.³ Character letters supplement that process rather than replace it.

Victim Impact Statements

Crime victims have a separate statutory right to be heard. Federal law guarantees victims “the right to be reasonably heard at any public proceeding in the district court involving release, plea, sentencing, or any parole proceeding.”⁴ In practice this usually takes the form of a victim impact statement at sentencing, either written or delivered aloud, describing the emotional, physical, and financial harm the crime caused.⁵

These statements are not ex parte because they move through the formal sentencing process. The prosecution typically helps victims prepare and submit them, and the defense gets copies. Before imposing a sentence, the court must address any victim present and give them the chance to be heard.³ Children affected by a crime can submit statements as well, sometimes as drawings, poems, or stories rather than formal written accounts.

The Right Way to Get Something in Front of a Judge

If you are a party to a case and you want the judge to consider something, it has to go through formal filing. The steps are the same whether an attorney represents you or you represent yourself.

File with the court clerk, not with the judge’s chambers. The clerk enters the document into the official case record.
Serve every other party. Everyone else in the case must receive a copy of anything you file. This is what separates a proper filing from an ex parte letter.
Attach a certificate of service stating when and how you delivered copies to the other parties. Without it, the court may decline to consider the filing.

Formal communications with the court come as motions (asking the judge to do something), briefs (arguing a legal point), or pleadings (stating claims or defenses). Letters, emails, and phone calls to chambers are not substitutes for any of these.¹ Most federal courts and many state courts now use electronic filing systems that notify all registered parties automatically.

Narrow Emergency Exceptions

A small set of emergencies allows a judge to act on a one-sided request. The most common is a temporary restraining order. Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a court can issue one without notifying the opposing party only when the person requesting it shows through a sworn statement that waiting would cause “immediate and irreparable injury,” and their attorney certifies in writing what efforts were made to give notice and why notice should not be required.⁶

Even then the order is temporary. It expires within 14 days unless extended, and the court must schedule a hearing at which the other side can respond.⁶ The judicial code also allows brief ex parte contact for scheduling or administrative matters, but only when nothing substantive is discussed and no party gains a tactical advantage.¹ These exceptions are tightly controlled because the default rule carries so much weight.

What Can Go Wrong If You Write Anyway

A single well-meaning letter is unlikely to put anyone in jail, but the range of consequences is broader than most people assume.

Disclosure. The judge must tell every party about the substance of the communication, so whatever you wrote becomes available to the opposing side.
Negative inference. A judge who receives an improper letter may view the sender, or the party the sender was trying to help, less favorably.
Judicial disqualification. If the communication is serious enough that the judge’s impartiality could reasonably be questioned, the judge may have to step aside, forcing delays and a restart with a new judge.⁷
Contempt or sanctions. Federal courts have inherent authority to punish obstruction of justice and bad-faith litigation conduct through fines and, in extreme cases, imprisonment. Persistent or manipulative attempts to influence a judge outside formal proceedings can trigger that authority.⁸

If you want to write a character letter for someone facing sentencing, call the defense attorney and ask how to contribute. That is the one reliable way to put your words in front of a judge without hurting the person you are trying to help. For anything else connected to a case you are involved in, work through counsel or file through the clerk with copies to every other party. Those are the channels judges can actually read from.

1
United States Courts. Code of Conduct for United States Judges
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 3661 – Use of Information for Sentencing
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure Rule 32 – Sentencing and Judgment
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 3771 – Crime Victims Rights
5
Department of Justice. Victim Impact Statements
6
Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 65 – Injunctions and Restraining Orders
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S. Code 455 – Disqualification of Justice, Judge, or Magistrate Judge
8
Legal Information Institute. Inherent Powers over Contempt and Sanctions