Citation: 28 U.S.C. ¡ì 455 See the Highlighted Part
United States Code
Section 455. Disqualification of
justice, judge, or magistrate
(a) Any justice, judge, or
magistrate of the United States shall disqualify himself in any
proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.
(b) He shall also
disqualify himself in the following circumstances:
(1) Where he has a personal bias or prejudice
concerning a party, or personal knowledge of disputed evidentiary facts
concerning the proceeding;
(2) Where in private practice he served as lawyer in
the matter in controversy, or a lawyer with whom he previously practiced
law served during such association as a lawyer concerning the matter, or
the judge or such lawyer has been a material witness concerning it;
(3) Where he has served in governmental employment and
in such capacity participated as counsel, adviser or material witness
concerning the proceeding or expressed an opinion concerning the merits
of the particular case in controversy;
(4) He knows that he, individually or as a fiduciary,
or his spouse or minor child residing in his household, has a financial
interest in the subject matter in controversy or in a party to the
proceeding, or any other interest that could be substantially affected
by the outcome of the proceeding;
(5) He or his
spouse, or a person within the third degree of relationship to either of
them, or the spouse of such a person:
(i) Is a party to the proceeding, or
an officer, director, or trustee of a party;
(ii) Is acting as a lawyer in the
proceeding;
(iii) Is
known by the judge to have an interest that could be substantially
affected by the outcome of the proceeding;
(iv) Is to the judge's knowledge
likely to be a material witness in the proceeding.
(c) A judge should inform himself about his personal and fiduciary
financial interests, and make a reasonable effort to inform himself
about the personal financial interests of his spouse and minor children
residing in his household.
(d) For the purposes of this section the following words or phrases
shall have the meaning indicated:
(1) "proceeding"
includes pretrial, trial, appellate review, or other stages of
litigation;
(2) the degree
of relationship is calculated according to the civil law system;
(3) "fiduciary" includes such relationships
as executor, administrator, trustee, and guardian;
(4) "financial interest" means ownership of
a legal or equitable interest, however small, or a relationship as
director, adviser, or other active participant in the affairs of a
party, except that:
(i) Ownership in a mutual or common
investment fund that holds securities is not a "financial
interest" in such securities unless the judge participates in the
management of the fund;
(ii) An office in an educational,
religious, charitable, fraternal, or civic organization is not a
"financial interest" in securities held by the organization;
(iii) The proprietary interest of a
policyholder in a mutual insurance company, of a depositor in a mutual
savings association, or a similar proprietary interest, is a
"financial interest" in the organization only if the outcome
of the proceeding could substantially affect the value of the interest;
(iv) Ownership of government
securities is a "financial interest" in the issuer only if the
outcome of the proceeding could substantially affect the value of the
securities.
(e) No justice, judge, or magistrate shall accept from the parties
to the proceeding a waiver of any ground for disqualification enumerated
in subsection (b). Where the ground for disqualification arises only
under subsection (a), waiver may be accepted provided it is preceded by
a full disclosure on the record of the basis for disqualification.
(f) Notwithstanding the preceding provisions of this section, if
any justice, judge, magistrate, or bankruptcy judge to whom a matter has
been assigned would be disqualified, after substantial judicial time has
been devoted to the matter, because of the appearance or discovery,
after the matter was assigned to him or her, that he or she individually
or as a fiduciary, or his or her spouse or minor child residing in his
or her household, has a financial interest in a party (other than an
interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome),
disqualification is not required if the justice, judge, magistrate,
bankruptcy judge, spouse or minor child, as the case may be, divests
himself or herself of the interest that provides the grounds for the
disqualification.
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