 He was chief judge of the court from 1998 through 2001.While on the bench, Bandstra worked on a project to develop legislation pertaining to independence for courts in Slovakia.Bandstra has served since 2013 as the volunteer Executive Director of the Association for a More Just Society (AJS), a Christian organization working with a sister organization in Honduras, seeking to assure better government services and just policies for the poor and powerless in that country.