- Committee and Membership. The Chief Justice shall appoint a
Committee on Judicial Ethics (Committee) consisting of five members.
Four of the members shall be judges or judge trial referees and one
of the members shall be a law professor who specializes in
professional ethics and is not engaged in the practice of law other
than in the federal courts as part of the professor’s teaching
responsibilities. The Chief Justice shall consider any
recommendations submitted by the Connecticut Judges Association but
shall not be bound by such recommendations. Of the members first
appointed, two shall be for three years, two shall be appointed for
two years and one shall be appointed for one year. On the
expiration of the term of office of a member, a successor shall be
appointed for a term of three years. Members may be reappointed to
the Committee, but no member shall be appointed to more than two
successive full three year terms. Members shall continue to serve
until a successor is appointed, and appointments to fill a vacancy
shall be for the balance of the existing term. The Chief Justice may
revoke or suspend an appointment for good cause as determined by the
Chief Justice.
- Powers and Duties. The Committee shall have the power and duty
to:
- render formal or informal advisory opinions with respect to
the interpretation of rules of court and statutes relating to the
ethical and professional conduct of judges, senior judges, judge
trial referees, family support magistrates and judicial or family
support magistrate nominees (hereinafter collectively referred to as
judicial officials), persons subject to such judicial officials’
direction and control or over whom the judicial official exercises
supervisory responsibilities, or the spouse or relatives of a
judicial official;
- make additional procedural rules, as it deems necessary, in
addition to the procedural rules contained herein;
- in January of each year, submit to the Chief Justice and the
Superior Court judges a report of its activities, together with any
recommendations; and
- publish on the Judicial Branch website a current version of
this policy, its procedural rules, opinions (subject to the
limitations set forth below) and such other information as it deems
appropriate.
- Administration. The Chief Justice shall designate one of the
members of the Committee as Chairperson and another as Vice
Chairperson. The Chief Justice shall designate a staff attorney to
serve as the secretary and principal administrative officer
(hereinafter referred to as Secretary to the Committee).
- A quorum of the Committee shall consist of three members.
- The Committee may render written opinions only by an
affirmative vote of at least three members.
- By rule the Committee may delegate particular types of
matters, including the issuance of informal oral opinions, to a
lesser number of members or to the Secretary to the Committee.
- The Secretary to the Committee shall maintain a record of all
requests for opinions and the Committee’s responses thereto.
- The members of the Committee shall serve without compensation but
shall be reimbursed for necessary expenses incurred in the
performance of their official duties.
- Opinion Requests.
- A request for an advisory opinion may be made only by a
judicial official.
- The Committee shall not render opinions regarding the
proposed conduct of someone other than the person submitting the
request, except that the Committee may respond to a request from a
judicial official about (i) a person subject to a judicial
official’s direction and control, (ii) a person over whom a judicial
official exercises supervisory responsibilities, or (iii) a judicial
official’s spouse or relatives.
- The Committee shall only issue opinions that address
contemplated or proposed future conduct and shall not issue opinions
addressing past or current conduct unless the past or current
conduct relates to future conduct or is continuing.
- Formal Advisory Opinions. Requests for formal advisory
opinions shall be made by letter, addressed to the Secretary to the
Committee. The letter shall be signed by the judicial official
requesting the advice and shall set forth fully all facts bearing on
the question or questions on which he or she requests advice.
Because the Committee will not render opinions on issues pending
before a court, agency, or commission, including the Judicial Review
Council, or that relate to past or current conduct unless such
conduct relates to future or continuing conduct, the request shall
contain an affirmation that, to the best of the information and
belief of the judicial official requesting the opinion, no issue
raised thereby, whether in reference to the requesting judicial
official or to any other person, is presently pending before any
court, agency, or commission and if it relates to past or current
conduct, such conduct relates to future or continuing conduct. The
judicial official shall immediately notify the Secretary to the
Committee if the subject matter of the request, subsequent to filing
the request, becomes the subject matter of a proceeding before a
court, agency or commission.
- Informal Advisory Opinions. Requests for informal advisory
opinions shall be made by telephone to the Secretary to the
Committee. The request shall contain the same information required
for a formal advisory opinion and there shall be the same ongoing
duty to inform if the subject of the request becomes the subject of
matter of a proceeding before a court, agency or commission. The
Secretary to the Committee shall maintain a sequentially numbered
record, by calendar year, of requests for informal opinions and the
responses thereto, but shall not include or record the name of the
requesting judicial official or any personally identifiable
information concerning that judicial official. A judicial official
who has requested an informal opinion may, at any time, request a
formal opinion concerning the subject matter of the informal opinion
by submitting a request in writing that complies with the
requirements of paragraph 4d, above.
- Scope of Question. Advisory opinion requests must relate to the
interpretation of rules of court relating to the ethical and
professional conduct of (a) the requesting judicial official, (b)
someone subject to the requesting judicial official’s direction and
control, (c) someone over whom the requesting judicial official
exercises supervisory responsibility, or (d) a spouse or relative of
the requesting judicial official. The Committee has discretion to
decline to answer questions for any reason including those seeking
opinions on hypothetical questions or upon questions relating to the
conduct of persons other than the requesting judicial official but
no such request is precluded by this policy.
- Consideration of Requests. The Committee shall render formal and
informal advisory opinions with respect to the interpretation of
rules of court relating to the ethical and professional conduct of
judicial officials, persons subject to their direction and control,
persons over whom they exercise supervisory responsibility, or the
spouse or relative of a judicial official. Formal opinions shall be
in writing while informal opinions shall be given orally. The
Committee will not render opinions on issues pending before a court,
agency, or commission, including but not limited to the Judicial
Review Council. The Committee may decline to render an opinion for
any reason that it deems sufficient and shall have discretion to
require that an oral request for an informal opinion be submitted in
writing as a request for a formal opinion. The Committee may
request additional information for purposes of clarification prior
to rendering an opinion.
- Disclosure of Requests and Opinions. Unless exempted from
disclosure by legislation or a court order, the Secretary to the
Committee’s records of requests for opinions and responses thereto,
including requests for formal opinions, formal opinions, and the
sequential record of requests and responses, shall be public
records. The Secretary to the Committee shall not write in any
records or documents the name of the judicial official requesting an
informal opinion or personally identifying information concerning
any such judicial official requesting an informal opinion. In
addition, except as authorized in paragraph 9, below, or if ordered
to do so by a court, the Secretary to the Committee shall not
disclose the identity of any judicial official who requested or is
the subject of an informal advisory opinion.
- Publication of Opinions. The Committee may publish its formal
opinions or summaries of its opinions.
- Non-binding. All opinions shall be advisory in nature only. No
opinion shall be binding on the Judicial Review Council or the
Superior Court, Appellate Court or Supreme Court in the exercise of
their judicial discipline responsibilities. The Secretary to the
Committee or a designee shall be available to testify at any
proceeding in which a judicial official who requested an opinion
seeks such testimony on an issue related to the opinion that was
provided.
- Reconsideration. Within thirty days after the distribution of a
formal opinion, the person who requested the opinion may petition
the Committee to reconsider its opinion by submitting a request for
reconsideration to the Secretary to the Committee in the form of a
letter or memorandum explaining the basis for the request. The
Committee shall respond to the request by either reaffirming or
revising the formal opinion. If warranted, the Committee may
reconsider an opinion at any time on its own motion.
Committee on Judicial Ethics
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