Schuylkill County President Judge William E. Baldwin does not believe Pennsylvania's new Code of Judicial Conduct will change the way he and his fellow jurists conduct court business in Pottsville.
"I don't think there's anything that judges are doing that would violate the code," Baldwin said Wednesday of how he and his six compatriots on the county bench handle their work-related and private affairs.
Baldwin discussed the new 41-page code, which the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts published earlier this month and which will take effect in July.
It represents the first revision and expansion of the code in 40 years, includes major changes in the areas of preventing nepotism and makes it clearer what is expected from judges, on and off the bench, according to Art Heinz, a spokesman for the AOPC.
"It was time to (change the code)," Heinz said Tuesday. "The previous code is 40 years old. There were significant provisions added with respect to nepotism, and a prohibition on judges serving on commercial boards."
The code bars a judge from appointing a close relative to an administrative position. The change follows controversy over former Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin, now off the bench and under house arrest following her conviction on corruption charges and hiring her sister as her chief of staff, and current Justice Seamus P. McCaffrey employing his wife as his chief administrative aide.
Such situations have not been a problem in Schuylkill County, Judge John E. Domalakes said.
"From what I read about them, it wouldn't impact anything I'm doing," Domalakes said. "Is it needed? For here, I don't think so."
Domalakes said the new code also sets new limits for campaign contributions for judges running for their offices and sets "reasonable" limits for recusal, or voluntary removal, from a case.
Baldwin said that when one of the county judges believes a conflict of interest exists that would prevent him or her from sitting on a case, that judge informs him and he assigns another judge to the case. If all of them believe they have such a conflict, he contacts the AOPC, which assigns a senior judge from another county to hear the case.
He also said the additions to the code follow procedures already used in Schuylkill County.
"I think those areas of the code that weren't included before were adhered to," he said. "To put it in a code makes it more official, takes the doubt out."
Heinz said officials, including a committee chaired by Superior Court Judge Anne E. Lazarus, modeled the new code in large part on the American Bar Association's Code of Conduct, which was last revised in 2007.
"They also looked at codes in other states," he said.
Heinz said he believes citizens should see in the new code a way to boost trust in the judiciary.
"The code is designed to inspire trust and confidence," with the highest standards in personal and judicial conduct, he said.
He said it also will give the Judicial Conduct Board and the Court of Judicial Discipline, the bodies that impose discipline on judges for misconduct, guidance on how to act in specific cases.
"The (new rules) form a very clear road map" for the board and court, Heinz said.
Baldwin said public confidence in the courts requires such measures.
"It's tremendously important that a judge be fair and impartial," he said. "(People) need to feel that their cases are being judged fairly and impartially."