For all judges, the making of administrative appointments and hiring of judicial employees has been changed in the new Code of Judicial Conduct. Rule 2.13 in the Code of Judicial Conduct for common pleas and appellate judges in Pennsylvania is very clear that a judge should exercise the powers of appointment impartially and on the basis of merit. Second, a judge has to avoid nepotism, favoritism and unnecessary appointments.
Under Rule 2.13(b), there is a strong prohibition against appointing a lawyer to a position where the judge knows that the lawyer or the lawyer’s spouse or domestic partner has contributed as a major donor to the judge’s election campaign within the prior two years. The exceptions to the rule are if the position for the appointment is substantially uncompensated, the lawyer has been selected from a rotating list of qualified and available lawyers without regard to political contributions, or the judge or another presiding judge finds that no other lawyer is willing, competent and able to accept the position.
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