Rule 51:2.7 Responsibility to Decide

Judges have a duty to actually rule on the cases and issues brought before them. If a case gets assigned to a judge, that judge needs to hear it and make a decision, not avoid it or pass it off to someone else.

There's one main exception to this rule. A judge can step aside if they're disqualified under a specific conflict of interest rule (Rule 2.11) or some other law that requires them to bow out. This might happen if the judge has a personal connection to the case, a financial interest in the outcome, or some other reason they can't be fair and impartial.

Outside of those legitimate conflicts, judges aren't allowed to dodge tough or unpopular cases. This rule exists so that people can count on getting a decision from the judge assigned to their case, instead of the judge finding excuses to send it elsewhere or delay ruling on it indefinitely.