JUDICIAL ETHICS OPINION 2024-1

¶1 Question: May a district court judge attend a fundraising event sponsored by Equality South?

¶2 Answer: No

¶3 Discussion: While no information was provided about Equality South , one of its publicly stated "Missions" is as follows:

¶4 Attendance at a fundraising event sponsored by Equality South would be a clear violation of Canon 4.1(A)(5). Under this rule, "a judge....shall not.....attend or purchase tickets for dinners or other events sponsored by a political organization or another candidate for public office."

¶5 While this mission of Equality South certainly has merit, it is purely political and precisely the type of "event" sponsored by a "political organization" that is prohibited by Canon 4.1(A)(5). Further, this type of event could be interpreted as supporting "another candidate for public office", which is also prohibited conduct for district court judges.

¶6 JEAP 2012-1, ¶ 6 provides some perspective, stating:

Honorable William C. Hetherington, Chair -- Concur

Honorable Glenn D. Adams -- Concur in the Result

Honorable Allen McCall -- Concur

Honorable Patricia G. Parrish -- Concur

Honorable Sheila Condren -- Concur