SUPREME
JUDICIAL COURT APPROVES
NEW
CODE OF ETHICS FOR JUDGES
Boston--The Supreme Judicial
Court today announced that it has adopted a new code of
ethics for Massachusetts judges. The new Code of Judicial
Conduct (S.J.C. Rule 3:09), which becomes effective on
October 1, 2003, is based, in part, on the American Bar
Association (ABA) Code of Judicial Conduct originally approved
by the ABA in 1990. The new code supersedes the previous
code adopted by the Supreme Judicial Court in 1972.
The
new code is substantially more detailed than the current
code of ethics. It includes a preamble and commentary not
in the current code. The new code was drafted after careful
study for several years of codes of ethics for judges from
all over the United States. It was prepared by a special
committee of the Supreme Judicial Court consisting of the
following persons: Former Land Court Chief Justice Peter
W. Kilborn, Chair; Juvenile Court Judge Jay D. Blitzman;
Superior Court Judge Margot G. Botsford; Boston Municipal
Court Judge Raymond G. Dougan, Jr.; Superior Court Judge
E. Susan Garsh; District Court Judge Rita S. Koenigs; Probate
and Family Court Judge Joseph Lian, Jr.; Superior Court
Judge Janet L. Sanders; District Court Judge James H. Wexler;
Harvard Law School Professor Andrew L. Kaufman and Chancellor
of Boston College J. Donald Monan, S.J., and Boston Attorney
Martin R. Rosenthal.
The
new Code of Judicial Conduct will reside on the Supreme
Judicial Court's page of the court's web site at www.state.ma.us/courts . Click
onto "SJC Home Page" under Shortcuts and then click onto "Judicial
Ethics Opinions" to find both the current Code and the
new Code. The direct link to the new Code is www.state.ma.us/courts/rule309eff1000103.pdf
