ARIZONA JUDICIAL CONDUCT 

AND ETHICS

May 2007

No. 23

The Bulletin is published periodically by the Commission on Judicial Conduct and the Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee as a service to the Arizona judiciary.  For more information, please contact the staff at 1501 W. Washington, Suite 229, Phoenix, AZ  85007; (602) 452-3200.

Click here for a pdf copy of the current Bulletin

Supreme Court Appoints Task Force to Review
ABA Model Code of Judicial Conduct

On April 26, 2007, the Arizona Supreme Court established a Task Force on the Code of Judicial Conduct to review and, if necessary, recommend revisions to the current judicial code based on the new Model Code of Judicial Conduct approved earlier this year by the American Bar Association’s House of Delegates at its mid-year meeting. The current Arizona code, which is based on the ABA’s 1990 model code, was adopted in 1993 and most recently amended in 2004.

The 2007 model code is the product of a comprehensive evaluation of the old code that the ABA initiated four years ago. The new version contains numerous recommendations, both in format and content, for updating and revising comparable state judicial codes. The last issue of the Bulletin contains an overview of the new code.

The initial members of the task force include the following:

Using the ABA model code as a guide, the task force will examine all facets of the state judicial code including its overall structure and organization, the content of individual canons and rules, and the interrelationship of the various canons. During the process, judges and others will be invited to submit comments and suggestions on various sections of the model code. The task force may then recommend to the supreme court modifications for revising the existing code. It may also consider the canons out of order to accommodate concerns about the rules that will govern the conduct of judges and judicial candidates in next year’s elections.

  The Administrative Office of the Courts and the Supreme Court’s Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee will provide administrative support and staff for the task force, in cooperation with the Commission on Judicial Conduct. Questions about the work of the task force can be directed to Keith Stott, the commission’s executive director, at 602-452-3200.

  For more information, Administrative Order 2007-36 establishing the Task Force on the Code of Judicial Conduct may be viewed at www.supreme.state.az.us by clicking on Opinions/ Rules/Orders, Administrative Orders, 2007. The current Code of Judicial Conduct can be found at www.supreme.state.az.us/ethics by clicking on Code of Judicial Conduct. The new model code may be viewed at www.abanet.org/judicialethics by clicking on ABA Model Code of Judicial Conduct, February 2007, and an overview of the new model code from the previous Bulletin can be found at www.supreme.state.az.us/ethics by clicking on Judicial Conduct and Ethics Bulletins and then clicking on No. 22 at the bottom of the page.

 

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