2009-04 (January 27, 2009)
Gifts; Ordinary Social Hospitality; Canons 2, 3 & 5

Issue: May a Judicial Official and the Judicial Official’s family accept an invitation to spend several days with another couple, with whom they are close personal friends, both of whom are lawyers, at the friends’ vacation home?

Response: Based upon the facts presented, the Committee unanimously agreed that two families vacationing together at one of the family’s homes, in view of the fact that the families regularly socialize together, is part of ordinary social hospitality and should be permitted subject to the following conditions: (1) the Judicial Official continues to recuse him or herself when either of the friends or the business that employs the friend who serves as house counsel appear before the Judicial Official, (2) such recusals are infrequent and do not interfere with the orderly processing of the court’s business, and (3) the Judicial Official and his or her family staying with their friends at the friends’ vacation home is consistent with the social hospitality that the Judicial Official and his or her family have extended to their friends.