Opinion ID: 2558735
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Disclosure on the Record

Text: We address two issues related to disqualification. Neither party asked the trial judge to place the emails on the record, with the result that both parties' arguments and our analysis are therefore based on the information that the trial judge disclosed orally on two different occasions during trial. As noted, these disclosures were limited by the trial judge's reluctance to re-read emails she considered to be problematic in a situation not of her own making. We understand the trial judge's reluctance as an attempt to avoid the taint of actual bias resulting from extrajudicial information about a trial witness. But, as already discussed, the ethical issue of disqualification that appellant presented was not premised on personal bias but on whether an objective fully informed observer would have reasonable cause to question the judge's ability to perform her judicial function with impartiality. Scott, 559 A.2d at 750. For this reason, the Judicial Code places on the judge an independent responsibility to disclose on the record information that the judge believes the parties or their lawyers might consider relevant to the question of disqualification, even if the judge believes there is no real basis for disqualification.  Code of Judicial Conduct, Canon 3(E)(1) cmt. (emphasis added); Model Code, Rule 2.11 cmt. [5]. Thus, even if the trial judge's own analysis of Canon 3(E)(1) led her to conclude that she was not required to recuse herself, she should have provided copies of the relevant parts of the email communications to the parties and made them a part of the record on appeal.