Opinion 88-02

January 28, 1988

Topic:          Judge applying for school scholarship for child

Digest:         Judge may apply for school scholarship for child, but not using judicial stationery, and being prepared for recusal if school thereafter becomes party in litigation

Rules:          100.2(c)

Opinion:

         A judge asks whether it is permissible to apply for a school scholarship for her child. A judge, acting as a parent, may apply, as would any other parent, for a school scholarship for her child, and may answer all questions in the application concerning the parent’s occupation; however, in light of Chief Administrator’s Rule section 100.2(c), which requires that “no judge shall lend the prestige of his or her office to advance the private interests of others,” the judge should not use her judicial letterhead stationery to apply, and if the school thereafter becomes a litigant before the judge, the judge should recuse herself.

         This Opinion is advisory only and is not binding upon either the Office of Court Administration or the Commission on Judicial Conduct.