COMMITTEE ON CODES OF CONDUCT
ADVISORY OPINION NO. 19

Judge's Membership in a Political Club.

The Committee's opinion has been requested as to the propriety of a judge continuing membership in a political club. The certificate of incorporation states that one of the main purposes of the club is advocating and maintaining the principles of the named political party. The judge advises that the club is most active politically but that the judge's participation is limited to taking lunch at the club on an average of once a year.

Canon 7 of the Code of Conduct for United States Judges provides as follows:

A. A judge should not:
(1) act as a leader or hold any office in a political organization;
(2) make speeches for a political organization or candidate or publicly endorse or oppose a candidate for public office;
(3) solicit funds for or pay an assessment or make a contribution to a political organization or candidate, attend political gatherings, or purchase tickets for political party dinners, or other functions.
B. A judge should resign the judicial office when the judge becomes a candidate either in a primary or in a general election for any office.
C. A judge should not engage in any political activity; provided, however, this should not prevent a judge from engaging in the activities described in Canon 4.

The American Bar Association Committee on Professional Ethics, in interpreting Judicial Canon 28, the predecessor to Canon 7, stated in its Formal Opinion 113:

A judge is entitled to entertain his personal views of political questions, but should not directly nor indirectly participate in partisan political activities. It is generally accepted in a rational philosophy of life that with every benefit there is a corresponding burden. Accordingly, one who accepts judicial office must sacrifice some of the freedom in political matters that otherwise he might enjoy. When he accepts a judicial position, ex necessitate rei, he thereby voluntarily places certain well recognized limitations upon his activities.

In Formal Opinion 312, the American Bar Association Committee ruled that Canon 28, among other things, prohibited a judge from becoming an active promoter of the interests of one political party as against another or from engaging generally in partisan activities. See also ABA Formal Opinion 289.

While here the judge asking for our opinion does not actively participate in the club's activities, the club itself is active politically and thus the judge's membership could be considered as giving the appearance of partisan activities. It must be remembered that at all times a judge's conduct is to be free of the appearance of impropriety. Canon 2.

It is the opinion of this Committee that the judge should resign membership in the political club.

January 21, 1970
Revised January 16, 1998

Note:

1. Judicial Canons 4 and 28, cited in the text, refer to the Canons of Judicial Ethics of the American Bar Association, adopted in 1923.