The Committee on Judicial Ethics responds to written inquiries from New York state’s approximately 3,400 judges, who serve both full- and part-time. The committee’s opinions interpret the Rules Governing Judicial Conduct (22NYCRR, Part 100) and the Code of Judicial Conduct. The committee, comprised of 26 current and retired judges and headed by former Justice George D. Marlow, also answers inquiries about proper campaign conduct from candidates for elective judicial office. The New York Law Journal publishes selected recent opinions of the committee.
Digest: (1) A judge must exercise disqualification, subject to remittal, when the judge’s spouse’s first cousin, who is an attorney, appears in the judge’s court. The judge may not appoint him/her as a law guardian, nor should the judge ask his/her co-judge to assign the judge’s spouse’s first cousin to the judge’s part. (2) A judge may continue to use an e-mail address created when the judge was an attorney for personal matters.
