How does a court determine if a campaign contribution necessitates judicial recusal?
A court evaluates whether the size and impact of a campaign contribution to a judge’s election campaign could create an appearance of impropriety, or suggest that the judge might be biased towards the contributing party, leading to the conclusion that recusal is necessary to preserve the fairness of proceedings.
For example: If a local business owner donates a large sum to a judge’s campaign and shortly after appears before that judge in a zoning dispute, recusal might be deemed necessary.