Vt. Admin. Ord. Of. Sup. Ct. 2.2
A judge shall uphold and apply the law and shall perform all duties of judicial office fairly and impartially.
Vt. Admin. Ord. Of. Sup. Ct. 2.2
Comment
[1] To ensure impartiality and fairness to all parties, a judge must be objective and open-minded.
[2] Although each judge comes to the bench with a unique background and personal philosophy, a judge must interpret and apply the law without regard to whether the judge approves or disapproves of the law in question.
[3] When applying and interpreting the law, a judge sometimes may make good-faith errors of fact or law. Errors of this kind do not violate this Rule.
[4] It is not a violation of this Rule for a judge to make reasonable accommodations to ensure self-represented litigants the opportunity to have their matters fairly heard.
Reporter's Notes
Rule 2.2 adapts the first half of the first sentence of Vermont Code 1994, Canon 3B(2), substituting "uphold and apply" for "be faithful to" the law in order to emphasize that in deciding cases, "judges should interpret and apply the law as they understand it to be written." ABA Reporter's Explanation 89. This duty is to be distinguished from the duty to "comply" with the law governing professional or personal conduct. See Reporter's Notes to Rule 1.1. The duty to act fairly and impartially, which was not explicit in the former ABA and Vermont codes, is now expressly incorporated in connection with the duty to apply the law. See Reporter's Notes to Rule 2.5. See generally ABA Reporter's Explanation 89.