|
§ 455.
Disqualification of justice, judge, or magistrate judge
(a) Any
justice, judge, or magistrate judge 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 judge 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 judge, 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 judge, 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. |
