[textbook]Traversing the Ethical Minefield Problems, Law, and Professional Responsibility by Susan R. Martyn (z-lib.org)(1) (1)

Chapter 16
Judicial Ethics
A. Introduction
Model Code of Judicial Conduct Table of Contents,
Preamble, Scope, Terminology, Application, Rule 3.10
Judicial ethics is an important topic for lawyers, both because most judges are lawyers, and
because lawyers interact with judges and are thereby “indirectly governed” by the law that
governs judicial conduct. 1 A short survey of judicial conduct rules thus provides an
opportunity to review similar concepts in the law governing lawyers.
1. The Judge’s Role
We have seen that the lawyer’s role is partisan: to represent the client’s interests zealously
within the bounds of the law. 2 The touchstone ethic for judges is the opposite: impartiality,
not preferential loyalty. Like lawyers, judges have obligations of competence,
communication, confidentiality, and conflict remediation, but these judicial obligations are
intended to promote confidence in the “independence, integrity, and impartiality” of a
public tribunal. 3 These “three I’s” recur as foundational values throughout the Model Code
of Judicial Conduct, which promotes them by requiring compliance with the law, 4
avoiding impropriety and the appearance of impropriety (yet another “I”), 5 and prohibiting
abuse of the power of the judicial office. 6
2. Sources of Law
Like lawyers, judges are governed by codes of conduct promulgated by the highest courts.
These codes apply to all the activities of full-time judges and some activities of part-time
judges, 7 including justices of the peace, magistrates, court commissioners, special masters,
referees, and administrative law judges. State codes of judicial conduct follow national
models that have been drafted and recommended by the American Bar Association. 8
Federal judges are subject to the Code of Conduct for United States Judges, adopted by the
United States Judicial Conference. 9
Like executive and legislative branch employees, state and federal judges also are subject
to statutory regulations, and, as Williams in this chapter makes clear, constitutional
limitations on their exercise of discretion. For example, federal statutes prohibit the practice
of law by federal judges 10 and create standards for disqualification. 11 Judges can be
disqualified from sitting on a case if they violate these provisions. Both state and federal
judges also are subject to criminal sanctions for violation of applicable statutory
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