207 Pa. Code § 15-2 Affiliation With Discriminatory Organizations

• Library: Pennsylvania Code (Rules and Regulations)
• Edition: 2023
• Currency: Current through Register Vol. 53, No. 52, December 30, 2023
• Citation: 207 Pa. Code § 15-2
• Year: 2023

A function of the Ethics Committee of the Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial Judges ("the Committee") is to provide guidance regarding ethical concerns to judicial officers subject to the Code of Judicial Conduct. The Code of Judicial Conduct that became effective on July 1, 2014, addressed, specifically, a judge's affiliation with organizations that discriminate invidiously on the basis of race, sex, gender, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability or sexual orientation. The Committee issues this Formal Advisory Opinion to assist judges on a matter of general importance to judicial officers subject to the Code. This Formal Advisory Opinion is general in nature. It does not address a particular entity or group of persons, and is not in response to a specific request for an advisory opinion from a judicial officer. Therefore, the "rule of reliance" set forth in Preamble (8) of the new Code does not apply to this Formal Advisory Opinion.1

I.

Prior to July 1, 2014, the Code of Judicial Conduct then in effect simply encouraged judges to promote "public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary" and permitted judges to "participate in civic and charitable activities that do not reflect adversely upon their impartiality. . . ."2 It did not specifically address membership in any organization or the use of its facilities.

However, the new Code, which became effective on July 1 2014, addresses, specifically, a judge's affiliation with organizations that discriminate invidiously on the basis of race, sex, gender, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability or sexual orientation. Rule 207undefined3.6 of the Code provides:

Affiliation with Discriminatory Organizations.

(A) A judge shall not hold membership in any organization that practices invidious discrimination on the basis of race, sex, gender, religion, national origin ethnicity, disability or sexual orientation.

(B) A judge shall not use the benefits or facilities of an organization if the judge knows or should know that the organization practices invidious discrimination on one or more of the bases identified in paragraph (A). A Judge's attendance at an event in a facility of an organization that the judge is not permitted to join is not a violation of this Rule when the judge's attendance is an isolated event that could not reasonably be perceived as an endorsement of the organization's practices And Comment (3) to the Rule states: When a judge learns that an organization to which the judge belongs engages in invidious discrimination, the judge must resign immediately from the organization.

II.

A. The "Organization" The Rule does not purport to reach informal, social groups It is directed to an affiliation with a discriminatory "organization." Nor does the Code define "organization." Whether a particular group of persons or entity is an "organization" under the Rule may depend upon its formal level of structure. For example, whether it has by-laws, officers, or a mission statement; whether it is part of a hierarchy; and whether its membership is consistent and how they are added or replaced may be relevant factors in determining whether the group or entity is an "organization."

B. Discrimination Use of the word "discrimination" often generates some confusion. As Robert K. Fullinwider wrote in The Reverse Discrimination Controversy (1980), at pp. 11-12: The dictionary sense of 'discrimination' is neutral while the current political use of the term is frequently non-neutral, pejorative With both a neutral and a non-neutral use of...