Vt. Admin. Ord. Of. Sup. Ct. 3.5
A judge shall not intentionally disclose or use nonpublic information acquired in a judicial capacity for any purpose unrelated to the judge's judicial duties.
Vt. Admin. Ord. Of. Sup. Ct. 3.5
Comment
[1] In the course of performing judicial duties, a judge may acquire information of commercial or other value that is unavailable to the public. The judge must not reveal or use such information for personal gain or for any purpose unrelated to his or her judicial duties.
[2] This rule is not intended, however, to affect a judge's ability to act on information as necessary to protect the health or safety of the judge or a member of a judge's family, court personnel, or other judicial officers if consistent with other provisions of this Code.
Reporter's Notes
Rule 3.5 is based on Vermont Code 1994, Canon 3B(11) (Canon 3B(12) in ABA code 1990), among judicial duties. It is now placed in Canon 3 covering extrajudicial duties to reflect that it addresses misuse of office for personal advantage. "Intentionally" has been added to make clear that merely careless conduct does not violate the Rule. New Comments [1] and [2] are intended to link the Rule to the prohibition of abuse of office in Rule 1.3 and to make clear that the Rule does not prevent a judge from using nonpublic information to prevent physical harm to the judge or others. See ABA Reporter's Explanation 118.