COMMITTEE ON CODES OF CONDUCT
ADVISORY OPINION NO. 75
Military and Other Governmental Pensions.
A number of judges receive pensions earned in the course of their
military service or other governmental service. A question has been raised
concerning disqualification when a military service or public body is a
party.
The Committee advises that no reasonable basis for questioning the
impartiality of the judge is raised when a judge who is receiving a military
pension participates in a proceeding in which a military service is a party.
Judges receiving a pension for state, federal, or other government service
are not disqualified from cases in which the governmental entity is a party.
Judges participate in cases in which the federal government, from which
the judge receives compensation for judicial services, is a party, without
raising any reasonable question of the judge's impartiality.
Disqualification would be mandatory when the outcome of the case
could substantially affect the amount of the judge's pension or the judge's
right to receive it. Canon 3C(1)(c). The mere presence as a party of the
military service in which the judge served or another military service,
however, when a judge's interest in the pension is not substantially affected,
raises no question of disqualification.
October 26, 1984
Revised July 10, 1998