QUESTION: May a judge use his official letterhead (or a reproduction of that letterhead) to invite members of a fraternal organization, who live in the jurisdiction of his local organization but have their membership elsewhere, to transfer their membership to the local organization?

ANSWER: Canon 2B of the Code of Judicial Conduct impart states: "... (A judge) should not lend the prestige of his [or her] office to advance the private interests...of others..."
The use of his official letterhead by a judge to invite or solicit transfer of membership in a fraternal organization appears to lend the prestige of the judge's office to assist his fraternity and is violative of Canon 2B.