Last updated on December 30th, 2022 at 05:28 pm
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The Pennsylvania Supreme Court https://www.pacourts.us/courts/supreme-court has created a Judicial Ethics Advisory Board. https://www.pacourts.us/news-and-statistics/news/news-detail/1101/supreme-court-of-pennsylvania-announces-membership-of-new-judicial-ethics-advisory-board The Board is populated with a diverse group of judges from across the state and across the levels of the judiciary. Similar to the Pennsylvania Bar Association and the Philadelphia Bar Association, the Board will provide advisory ethics opinions to Judges (privately) and opine about ethical issues touching the judiciary in general (publicly). https://www.pacourts.us/Storage/media/pdfs/20220114/160005-adoptionofthepennsylvaniarulesofthejudicialethicsadvisoryboard-certifiedorder1-14-22.pdf
The Board fills a vacuum for judges who are uneasy expressing their uncertainty about issues and before this, had nowhere to turn for guidance. The creation of this Board sends two important messages: it’s okay to be confused and it’s good to ask for help! This is a big step forward for the Pennsylvania Judiciary. It should prove especially helpful to the Magisterial District Judges who are not statutorily required to be lawyers and have a huge impact on the everyday lives of Pennsylvanians.