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Cardozo Law Review

Abstract

According to 28 U.S.C. § 455(a), a judge shall disqualify himself from presiding over "any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned." Judicial disqualification under § 455(a) arises from a number of disparate situations, including a judge's financial conflict of interest and a judge's appearance of bias or prejudice. This Note focuses on judicial disqualification for bias under § 455(a) and the questionable legitimacy of a judicially created doctrine known as the "extrajudicial source requirement." The extrajudicial source requirement allows a judge to deny a disqualification motion based on bias if the judge's alleged bias arises solely from within a judicial proceeding. The First Circuit case of United States v. Chantal provides a good example of the distinction between a judicial and an extrajudicial source of bias.

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