Opinion No. 01-05

May 1, 2001

Topic: Judge as guest of honor at a civic organization's fundraising dinner.

Digest: Judge may not be a guest of honor at a civic organization’s fundraising event.

References: Illinois Supreme Court Rule 65B(2); Illinois Judicial Ethics Committee Opinion Nos. 96-3 and 99-5; ABA Model Code of Judicial Conduction, Section 4C(3)(b)

FACTS

A civic organization wishes to honor a judge for the judge’s work, in a non-judicial capacity, with local youths. The judge would be a guest of honor at a fundraising dinner for the organization, but the judge’s name would not be used on any invitations or promotional materials for the dinner.

QUESTION

Can a judge be a guest of honor at a civic organization’s fundraising dinner if the judge’s name is not used in any invitations or promotional materials?

ANALYSIS

Supreme Court Rule 65B(2) provides in pertinent part:

B. Civic and Charitable Activities. A judge may participate in civic and charitable activities that do not reflect adversely upon the judge’s impartiality or interfere with the performance of the judge’s judicial duties. A judge may serve as an officer, director, trustee, or nonlegal advisor of an educational, religious, charitable, fraternal or civic organization not conducted for the economic or political advantage of its members, subject to the following limitations:

* * *

(2) A judge should not solicit or permit his or her name to be used in any manner to solicit funds or other assistance for any such organization.… A judge should not be a speaker or the guest of honor at an organization’s fund-raising events, but he or she may attend such events.

(Emphasis added.)

IJEC Opinion No. 99-5 involved a judge who was going to be a guest of honor at a benefit supporting a high school. The inside of the invitation to the benefit identified the judge as being among those who would be honored. The Committee concluded that the judge was not permitted to appear at the benefit as a guest of honor:

[T]he judge is clearly a guest of honor receiving an award at this benefit. The benefit is a fund-raising event and appearing as a guest of honor at such an event is prohibited.

IJEC Opinion No. 99-5 cited with approval the Committee’s earlier Opinion No. 96-3, where one of the issues concerned a judge’s ability to act as a speaker at a University fundraiser for a scholarship fund. After opining that Supreme Court Rule 65B(2) prohibits a judge from being a speaker at a fundraising event, the Committee noted "that Rule 65B(2) prohibits the judge from being ‘the guest of honor’ at an organization’s fundraising event, let alone being ‘a speaker’ at the same."

The prohibition in Supreme Court Rule 65B(2) against a judge being a guest of honor at a fundraising dinner is one of the enumerated limitations on a judge’s ability to serve as an officer, director, trustee, or nonlegal advisor of an educational, religious, charitable, fraternal, or civic organization. See the last sentence of Rule 65B. However, IJEC Opinion Nos. 99-5 and 96-3 preclude any interpretation of the prohibition in Supreme Court Rule 65B(2) against being a guest of honor at a fundraiser as being limited to events benefiting an organization for which the judge serves as an officer, director, trustee, or nonlegal advisor. Both IJEC Opinions applied Rule 65B(2)’s prohibition against being a guest of honor to events in which the judge had no position with the organization conducting the fundraiser.

The IJEC’s conclusion is supported by the ABA Model Code of Judicial Conduct. Section 4C(3)(b) of the Code regulates a judge’s permissible activities with respect to various nonprofit organizations. Although the text of Section 4C(3)(b) does not address a judge being a guest of honor at a fundraising activity, the Official Commentary to that section states:

A judge must not be a speaker or guest of honor at an organization’s fund-raising event, but mere attendance at such an event is permissible if otherwise consistent with this Code.

(Emphasis added.) Under these circumstances, while Supreme Court Rule 65B(2) is not a model of clarity, the Committee believes that the Rule precludes a judge from being a guest of honor at a fundraising event for a civic or charitable organization regardless of any relationship the judge may have with that entity.

OPINION

The judge may not be a guest of honor at the civic organization’s fundraising event.