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May
23, 2002
The Honorable
Dennis L. James, President
Arkansas District Judges Council, Inc.
519 E. Capitol, Suite 2-West
Little Rock, Arkansas 72202
Re: Advisory
Opinion No. 2002-05
Dear Judge
James:
You have
asked if the Arkansas District Judges Council, Inc. should endorse
a law enforcement program of the Arkansas State Highway and
Transportation Department called
"CLICK IT or TICKET which is described as "a high-visibility
statewide enforcement effort designed to detect violators of
Arkansas' primary child passenger protection law and secondary
seat belt law." You state that this program is a "very
admirable one, in that it promotes safety and education of the
public."
Members
of your Council will be acting as judges of most all the charges
brought under this program, and if the Council endorsed it,
the member judges would certainly have to recuse since there
would the appearance of bias or prejudice. Our answer is that
an endorsement of this or any other law enforcement program,
however worthy of support, by the Arkansas District Judges Council,
Inc. or any individual judge would be in violation of the Arkansas
Code of Judicial Conduct, Canons 1, 2 , 3 and 4.
Very truly
yours,
Edwin Alderson
for the Committee
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