VIRGIN ISLANDS CODE OF JUDICIAL CONDUCT VIRGIN ISLANDS CODE OF JUDICIAL CONDUCT

• Jurisdiction: United States

VIRGIN ISLANDS CODE OF JUDICIAL CONDUCT VIRGIN ISLANDS SUPREME COURT RULE 213

Originally Effective: September 9, 1976

(4 V.I.C. § 657(a))

Last Amended: April 9, 2019

(S. Ct. Prom. No. 2019-0010)

Chapter Outline

Rule 213.1.1. Compliance with the Law

Rule 213.1.2. Promoting Confidence in the Judiciary

Rule 213.1.3. Avoiding Abuse of the Prestige of Judicial Office

Rule 213.2.1. Giving Precedence to the Duties of Judicial Office

Rule 213.2.2. Impartiality and Fairness

Rule 213.2.3. Bias, Prejudice, and Harassment

Rule 213.2.4. External Influences on Judicial Conduct

Rule 213.2.5. Competence, Diligence, and Cooperation

Rule 213.2.6. Ensuring the Right to Be Heard

Rule 213.2.7. Responsibility to Decide

Rule 213.2.8. Decorum, Demeanor, and Communication with Jurors

Rule 213.2.9. Ex Parte Communications

Rule 213.2.10. Judicial Statements on Pending and Impending Cases

Rule 213.2.11. Disqualification

Rule 213.2.12. Supervisory Duties

Rule 213.2.13. Administrative Appointments

Rule 213.2.14. Disability and Impairment

Rule 213.2.15. Responding to Judicial and Lawyer Misconduct

Rule 213.2.16. Cooperation with Disciplinary Authorities

Rule 213.3.1. Extrajudicial Activities in General

Rule 213.3.2. Appearances Before Governmental Bodies and Consultation with Government Officials

Rule 213.3.3. Testifying as a Character Witness

Rule 213.3.4. Appointments to Governmental Positions

Rule 213.3.5. Use of Nonpublic Information

Rule 213.3.6. Affiliation with Discriminatory Organizations

Rule 213.3.7. Participation in Educational, Religious, Charitable, Fraternal, or Civic Organizations and Activities

Rule 213.3.8. Appointments to Fiduciary Positions

Rule 213.3.9. Service as Arbitrator or Mediator

Rule 213.3.10. Practice of Law

Rule 213.3.11. Financial, Business, or Remunerative Activities

Rule 213.3.12. Compensation for Extrajudicial Activities

Rule 213.3.13. Acceptance and Reporting of Gifts, Loans, Bequests, Benefits, or Other Things of Value

Rule 213.3.14. Reimbursement of Expenses and Waivers of Fees or Charges

Rule 213.3.15. Reporting Requirements

Rule 213.4.1. Political and Campaign Activities of Judges and Judicial Candidates in General

Rule 213.4.2. [Reserved]

Rule 213.4.3. Activities of Candidates for Appointive Judicial Office

Rule 213.4.4. [Reserved]

Rule 213.4.5. Activities of Judges Who Become Candidates for Nonjudicial Office

Author's Note

For more than three decades, it was the responsibility of the statutorily created Virgin Islands Commission on Judicial Disabilities to adopt "[r]elevant portions of the American Bar Association Model Code of Judicial Conduct" to govern the conduct of judicial officers of the Virgin Islands. See 4 V.I.C. § 657(a). However, the decision of the United States Court of Appeals in Kendall v. Russell, 572 F.3d 126 (3d Cir. 2009), nullified the Virgin Islands Commission on Judicial Disabilities on grounds that it violated the separation of powers principles inherent in the Revised Organic Act of 1954. Shortly thereafter the Supreme Court of the Virgin Islands established the Virgin Islands Commission on Judicial Conduct and enacted the Virgin Islands Rules for Judicial Disciplinary Enforcement (Supreme Court Rule 209). The Supreme Court, however, did not issue a promulgation order formally re-enacting the Virgin Islands Code of Judicial Conduct.

Despite the absence of a formal promulgation order, the Virgin Islands Code of Judicial Conduct continued to govern the conduct of Virgin Islands judicial officers. In orders issued after the Kendall decision, the Supreme Court stated that the pertinent provisions of the ABA Model Code of Judicial Conduct apply to Virgin Islands judicial officers through Supreme Court Rule 205 as well as the Bylaws of the Virgin Islands Bar Association, see In re Kendall, 55 V.I. 459 (V.I. 2010), and cited another statute that authorizes the Supreme Court to adopt "relevant and applicable provisions of the American Bar Association model Code of Judicial Conduct." 4 V.I.C. § 28. In effect, the Supreme Court of the Virgin Islands had found that the judicial conduct rules that were previously in effect continued to remain in effect through these other authorities.

Given this history, it is difficult to ascertain precisely when certain provisions of the Virgin Islands Code of Judicial Conduct were amended between 1976 and the present. However, a copy of the operative Virgin Islands Code of Judicial Conduct was posted to the website of the Virgin Islands Commission on Judicial Conduct on February 14, 2011, and the Supreme Court stated in subsequent decisions that those rules have been adopted and cited to them as authority. See In re M.R., 64 V.I. 333 (V.I. 2016).

Ultimately, on April 9, 2019, the Supreme Court formally codified the Virgin Islands Code of Judicial Conduct as Supreme Court Rule 213 in order to "minimize confusion as to which rules govern the conduct of judicial officers in the Virgin Islands." These rules were...