May a judicial officer serve on a volunteer fire board and use a ticket earned by a spouse’s volunteer work?
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This page answers the general question as of 2013. Ask about yours and see what the current rules of professional conduct in your state say for your facts, with citations.
Plain-English summary
A judicial officer asked about serving on a volunteer fire department board without fundraising or lending judicial prestige to the department. The officer also asked whether an extra concert ticket given to the officer’s husband for volunteer work could be used to accompany him.
The Commission permitted board service within former Canon 4C(3), including its limits on fundraising and organizations likely to appear in court, and noted that the officer should regularly reconsider the organization’s activities. It permitted use of the extra ticket if it was given for the spouse’s volunteering and could not reasonably be perceived as intended to influence judicial work. The opinion excludes tickets from an event holder with a pending magistrate-court case.
In practice
The opinion conditions board service on Canon 4C(3) and the companion ticket on its connection to the spouse’s work and the absence of a reasonable appearance of influence.
Common questions
Q: May the judicial officer join the fire department board?
A: Yes, if the membership stays within former Canon 4C(3).
Q: May the officer use the spouse’s extra concert ticket?
A: Yes, if it is a benefit of the spouse’s volunteer work and could not reasonably appear intended to influence judicial duties.
Q: What if the event holder has a case in magistrate court?
A: The opinion says the spouse should not accept and the judicial officer should not use those tickets.
Background and rules framework
Former Canon 4C(3) governs civic and charitable board activity, including limits on fundraising and likely litigation. Former Canon 4D(5)(b) permits certain benefits incident to a spouse’s separate activity if they could not reasonably be perceived as intended to influence the judge.
Citations and references
West Virginia Code of Judicial Conduct (former):
- Canon 4C(3)(a)–(c) and Commentary, civic organization service.
- Canon 4D(5)(b), benefit from spouse’s separate activity.
Other opinions cited:
- JIC Advisory Opinions 5/21/2001, 2/19/2002, 11/25/2008, 8/11/2009, and 12/22/2010, civic board service.
See also
Source
- Landing page: West Virginia Judicial Investigation Commission advisory opinions
- Original PDF: JIC Advisory Opinion 2013-09, redacted
Original opinion text
Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor errors may remain; the linked PDF is authoritative.
JUDICIAL INVESTIGATION COMMISSION
City Center East - Suite 1200 A
4700 MacCorkle Ave., SE
Charleston, West Virginia 25304
(304) 558-0169 * FAX (304) 558-0831
July 31, 2013
Re: JIC Advisory Opinion 2013-09.
Dear
Your request for an advisory opinion was recently reviewed by the Judicial Investigation Commission. You have been asked to serve on the Volunteer Fire Department as a
board member. To your knowledge, no member of the Department has ever been a witness in your court.
You have indicated that you will not solicit funds or take part in any fundraising activities but that you may “brainstorm” on types of fundraisers that the Department may engage in. You also acknowledge that while you may not engage in grant writing on behalf of the Department, you may help secure someone who could serve in that capacity. You also state that you will not permit the use of the prestige of your office for that purpose. The prohibitions
you mention are fundamental precepts of Canon 4C(3) of the Code of Judicial Conduct, which provides in pertinent part:
A judge may participate in civic and charitable activities that do not reflect adversely upon the judge’s impartiality or interfere with the performance of the judge’s judicial duties. A judge may serve as an officer, director, trustee or non-legal adviser of an educational, religious, charitable, fraternal or civic organization not conducted for the economic or political advantage of its members subject to the following limitations: JIC Advisory Opinion 2013-09 July 31, 2013 Page 2
(a) A judge should not serve if it is likely that the organization will be engaged in proceedings that would ordinarily come before the judge or will be regularly engaged in adversary proceedings in any court.
(b) A judge should not solicit funds for any educational, religious, charitable, fraternal or civic organization, or use or permit the use of the prestige of office for that purpose; but a judge may be listed as an officer, director, or trustee of such an Organization, so long as the listing is not used for fund-raising purposes. A judge should not be a speaker or the guest of honor at an organization’s fundraising events, but may attend such events.
(c) A judge should not give investment advice to such an organization, but a judge may serve on its board of directors or trustees even though it has the responsibility for approving investment decisions.
The Commission has long held that a judicial officer can serve on the board of a charitable organization as long as he/she complies with the tenets set forth in Canon 4C(3). See JIC Advisory Opinion 5/21/2001 (judicial officer can serve as an advisory board member to the Make a Wish Foundation of Southern West Virginia); JIC Advisory Board Opinion 2/19/2002 (judicial officer can sit as an officer or member of the board of a community action agency such as Multi-Cap); JIC Advisory Opinion 11/25/2008 (judicial officer can serve as a trustee on the trustee committee of his/her church); JIC Advisory Opinion 8/11/2009 (judicial officer can be a charter member of a new chapter of Kiwanis Club); and JIC Advisory Opinion 12/22/2010 (judicial officer can sit on the board of directors for the Salvation Army).
Based upon the foregoing, you would be permitted to serve on the Volunteer Fire Department Board provided your membership falls within the parameters of Canon 4 set forth above. However, the Commentary to Canon 4C notes that “[t]he changing nature of some civic and charitable organizations and of their relationship to the law makes it necessary for a
judge regularly to reexamine the activities of such organization .. . to determine if it is proper to continue his or her relationship with it.”
You also asked whether it would be permissible for you to use an extra ticket provided to your husband as compensation for his volunteer work at certain events. Your husband recently volunteered at the Greenbrier Classic Golf Tournament. According to you, your husband “was gone from 8:00 a.m. until 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. the next day for five days during the golf tournament.” For donating his time, your husband, along with many other volunteers, was provided with two tickets to some of the concerts held in conjunction with the Tournament. JIC Advisory Opinion 2013-09 July 31, 2013 Page 3
Canon 4D(5) provides in pertinent part:
A judge shall not accept, or knowingly permit staff, court officials, and others subject to judge's direction and control to accept, and should urge members of the judge's family residing in the judge's household, not to accept a gift, bequest, favor, or loan from anyone except for:.... (b) a gift, award, or benefit incident to the business, profession, or other separate activity of a spouse or other family member of a judge residing in the judge's household, including gifts, awards, and benefits for the use of both the spouse or other family member and the judge (as spouse or family member), provided the gift, award, or benefit could not reasonably be perceived as intended to influence the judge in the performance of judicial duties; ....
As long as the tickets are given to your husband for volunteering at various events, you may use the extra one to accompany him. However, if the tickets could reasonably be perceived as intended to influence you in the performance of your judicial duties then your husband should refrain from taking the tickets. For example, your husband should not accept and you should not use any tickets from any event holder who may have a case pending in the Magistrate Court of “County.
It is hoped that this opinion fully addresses the issues which you have raised. If there is any further question regarding this matter do not hesitate to contact the Commission.
Sincerely,
Ronald E. Wilson, Chairperson
Judicial Investigation Commission
REW/tat
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