Pennsylvania Updates Judicial Code of Conduct

Following years of scandals and awful press, last month Pennsylvania's Supreme Court unanimously updated its Code of Judicial Conduct. 

The new amendments require Pennsylvania's 450 elected judges to quit corporate boards, bar them from hiring relatives, and force them to withdraw from cases involving lawyers who have made substantial donations to their judicial election campaign.  

These amendments are the first since 1992 and scheduled to take effect in July 2015. 

Recent Abuses 

In 2013, Pennsylvania state Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin resigned after using her elected office and taxpayer-funded staff for political purposes and the Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing into referral fees earned by the top aide and wife of state Supreme Court Justice Seamus P. McCaffery.  

In 2009, a federal grand jury returned a 48 count indictment against two former Luzerne County judges who were later convicted in connection with the “kids for cash” scandal. 

Further, until recently, Carbon County's president judge also served on the board of the county's largest bank and may have presided over matters involving the bank he served. 

Scope of Judicial Conduct Code's Amendments  

Pennsylvania's state court judges are elected, not appointed, and the Code of Judicial Conduct comprises the code of ethics governing their conduct.  While not forming criminal statutes, Pennsylvania judges have been suspended and removed for Judicial Conduct Code violations. 

Forming the first revision since 1992, the updated Judicial Conduct Code is modeled after a 2007 American Bar Association version and is nearly three times the previous Code's length. 

A substantial addition to the Code includes language expressly prohibiting nepotism stating that “[i]n making administrative appointments and hiring decisions, a judge: shall exercise the power of appointment impartially and on the basis of merit; and shall avoid nepotism, favoritism, and unnecessary appointments.”  

Presently both Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille and Justice McCaffery have their wives employed as their top aides and the change is silent on immediate family members currently employed by the judiciary. 

A provision has also been added explicitly prohibiting the “use of court staff, facilities, or other court resources in a campaign for judicial office.”  Judges will now also be prohibited from sitting on corporate boards.  Additionally, judges will be required to recuse themselves from cases where a party, a party’s lawyer, or the law firm of a party’s lawyer has made a direct or indirect campaign contribution in an “amount that would raise a reasonable concern about the fairness or impartiality of the judge’s consideration.” 

The majority of the Judicial Conduct Code new provisions will take effect on July 1, 2014 and Judges will be expected to resign from corporate boards by July 1, 2015.