Hall v. State of Missouri et al

Filing 15

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER. (See Full Order.) IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiff's "Motion for Disqualification of Presiding Judge" [ECF No. 14 ] is DENIED. Signed by District Judge Catherine D. Perry on 12/5/2016. (CBL)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI
EASTERN DIVISION
ARIZONA HALL, JR.,
Plaintiff,
v.
STATE OF MISSOURI, et al.,
Defendant,

)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)

No. 4:16-CV-291 CDP

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
This matter is before me on plaintiff’s “Motion for Disqualification of Presiding Judge.”
Plaintiff asserts that I have conspired with another judge “to circumvent hearing the
constitutional violations asserted in [his] petition[s] for writ of habeas corpus.” The assertion is
baseless.
Section 455(a) provides that a judge “shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which
his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.” Impartiality is judged objectively: “Would the
average person, knowing the facts alleged by the part[y] seeking disqualification, question the
Judge=s impartiality, and, if so, would the question be reasonable?” O=Bannon v. Union Pac.
R.R. Co., 169 F.3d 1088, 1091 (8th Cir. 1999). Stated differently, the test is “whether the judge=s
impartiality might reasonably be questioned by the average person on the street who knows all
the relevant facts of a case.” Moran v. Clarke, 296 F.3d 638, 648 (8th Cir. 2002) (quoting In re
Kan. Pub. Employees Ret. Sys., 85 F.3d 1353, 1358 (8th Cir. 1996)). If this test is not satisfied,
judges have a duty to decide the cases and controversies which come before them. See Perkins
v. Spivey, 911 F.2d 22, 28 (8th Cir. 1990); see also Cheney v. U.S. Dist. Ct., 541 U.S. 913, 916
(2004) (memorandum of Scalia, J.). “Frivolous and improperly based suggestions that a judge

recuse should be firmly declined. Maier v. Orr, 758 F.2d 1578, 1583 (9th Cir. 1985). In this
case, plaintiff’s motion is both frivolous and improperly based. Therefore, it is denied.
Accordingly,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiff’s “Motion for Disqualification of Presiding
Judge” [ECF No. 14] is DENIED.
Dated this 5th day of December, 2016.

CATHERINE D. PERRY
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

2