Two views of a state justice Friends see a principled man and devoted father. An ethics panel sees someone trying to use his title on a son's behalf.

Friends call New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto a principled man and devoted father who doggedly defends his family.

But a recent state ethics complaint - only the second in the recent history of the state high court - paints a picture of Rivera-Soto as a pompous justice waving his powerful business card to help his teenage son in a dispute with a high school football teammate.

Rivera-Soto, 53, has never been accused of being meek. A veteran casino attorney who had never been a judge before he was a surprise pick to become the high court's first Hispanic justice in 2004, Rivera-Soto was known in Haddonfield for his dramatic defense of a middle school principal fighting to stay in the district, thundering in a 2001 school board meeting as though it were a landmark court case.

This month, a state panel took Rivera-Soto to task for improperly using his title to advocate for his son, Christian, in a dispute with the captain of the Haddonfield Memorial High School football team.

The ethics filing said that, after Christian was bullied and the case spiraled into the courts, Rivera-Soto asked a court employee whether she knew who he was, handed out business cards with his title, and phoned various officials from top county judges to the acting county prosecutor and the Haddonfield police chief (on the chief's cell phone).

Rivera-Soto, who makes $158,500 as a justice, has denied using his position to try to influence the case. The panel is now weighing whether he will face penalties ranging from a reprimand to removal from the bench.

Rivera-Soto has refused repeated requests for comment at his home and through his attorney.

Friends describe him as unusually reverent of the law, a hardworking judge who is often in his chambers late into the night or on Sundays, preparing for cases.

They say he is a father who swiftly revokes car privileges when a son gets a bad test grade - but who will also wake early to drive the boys to hockey practice. They add that, when he moved to Las Vegas a few months ahead of his family, he flew home every weekend, becoming an expert on in-flight neck pillows.

And, they say, he's the last guy who would play the "Do you know who I am?" card.

"This is the straightest shooter on the face of the earth," said Philadelphia lawyer Steven Suflas, who has been friends with Rivera-Soto for 25 years.