The Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics responds to written inquiries from New York state’s approximately 3,600 judges and justices, as well as hundreds of judicial hearing officers, support magistrates, court attorney-referees, and judicial candidates (both judges and non-judges seeking election to judicial office). The committee interprets the Rules Governing Judicial Conduct (22 NYCRR Part 100) and, to the extent applicable, the Code of Judicial Conduct. The committee consists of 27 current and retired judges, and is co-chaired by the Honorable Margaret Walsh, a justice of the supreme court in Albany County, and the Honorable Lillian Wan, an associate justice of the appellate division, second department.
Digest: A part-time town justice, who is a high school teacher, may comment in the classroom on a pending or impending case arising in another jurisdiction. The judge may not reference specific cases in the judge’s court unless and until those cases are completely resolved, including any appeals that are pending. However, if students ask about matters relating to a pending or pending case in the judge’s court, the judge may respond by guiding a discussion that seeks to examine all sides of any issue without offering a personal opinion or predicting how the matter should or will be decided.
