A judge may engage in activities to improve the law, the legal system, and the administration of justice. A judge should regulate extra-judicial activities to minimize the risk of conflict with judicial duties. A judge or a candidate for judicial office should refrain from political activity inappropriate to judicial office. Some states, such as New York and California, have adopted the Model Code with some modifications as state law. Violation of the canons of the Model Code and the state codes subjects a judge to disciplinary action.
State laws determine whether the court officers are referred to as judges or justices.
In most states, as in the federal judiciary, the term justice is reserved for the members of the supreme appellate court. The Chief Justice of the United States is the chief administrative officer of the federal judiciary. As the title implies, he or she is not merely the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, but the Chief Justice of the entire United States. Each federal court of appeals and district court has a chief judge. With the assistance of a circuit executive, the chief judge of a circuit administers most of the work of the court of appeals.