Opinion ID: 874336
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: motions to disqualify

Text: Before turning to the issues presented in the petition, the Court will consider the motions filed by Petitioner on August 21, 2009, seeking to disqualify Justices Roger S. Burdick, Jim Jones and Warren E. Jones. It does not appear that Petitioner seeks to disqualify Justice Pro Tern Wayne L. Kidwell. The briefs filed in support of the motions contend that the three Justices are biased and not impartial. The motions are not supported by affidavits. Some background is necessary in order to place the motions in context. After two continuancesone at the behest of Petitioner and the other at the request of the Councilthis matter was scheduled for oral argument on July 22, 2009. On July 17, 2009, Petitioner filed suit in the United States District Court for the District of Idaho against each of the Justices then sitting on this caseChief Justice Daniel T. Eismann, Justices Roger Burdick, Jim Jones and Warren Jones, and Justice Pro Tern Wayne Kidwell. In his federal suit, Petitioner asserted a variety of claims against the individual Justices and sought, among other things, to have the federal judge vacate the July 22 argument. The federal judge declined to vacate the argument and it proceeded as scheduled. Central to the claims in the federal suit were allegations that Chief Justice Eismann, as Chairman of the Idaho Judicial Council, had participated in Council proceedings pertaining to this matter and, therefore, could not act objectively. Petitioner has admitted having no claim that the Chief Justice was actually biased against him. On August 5, 2009, Petitioner filed a motion with this Court, seeking to disqualify Chief Justice Eismann. On August 7, 2009, Chief Justice Eismann filed a recusal based upon the claims in the federal lawsuit. The Chief Justice cited an affidavit filed by him in the federal lawsuit showing that he had not participated in the proceedings before the Council relating to Petitioner, that he had been in the hospital undergoing chemotherapy for lymphoma at the time the Council's hearing was conducted, and that he had not discussed the Council's findings and recommendations with other members of the Council. The timing of the motions to disqualify three of the four remaining Justices presiding on the case is somewhat troubling. The case was argued on July 22 and fully submitted for decision. Although the Idaho Rules of Civil Procedure do not apply in appellate proceedings, Rule 40(d), pertaining to disqualification of trial court judges, is instructive. Where a party seeks to disqualify a trial judge without cause, the motion must be timely filed before contested matters are presented for consideration. See Idaho R. Civ. P. 40(d)(1)(B). A motion for disqualification of a trial judge for cause may be made at any time but must be accompanied with an affidavit stating distinctly the grounds upon which disqualification is based and the facts relied upon in support of the motion. Idaho R. Civ. P. 40(d)(2)(B). Petitioner's motions were unaccompanied by affidavits spelling out why the three Justices should be disqualified for bias or lack of impartiality, so the motions are more in the form of motions seeking to disqualify without cause. Should a party wish to file such a motion in order to call the attention of a Justice to a potential concern regarding participation on a particular case, the same should be filed in a timely manner before argument, not after the litigant has evaluated the tenor of questions asked by the particular Justice at the argument. It would be a dangerous precedent to allow a litigant to observe the questioning of the Justices at oral argument and, after the fact, seek to disqualify those Justices who appear to have reservations about aspects of the litigant's case. Furthermore, there is nothing stated in Petitioner's motions indicating why an earlier suggestion of recusal could not have been made. From the commencement of this appeal, it was known to Petitioner that Idaho Code section 1-2101 provides that the Chief Justice of the Idaho Supreme Court is to serve as a member of the Council, as well as its chairman, and that Chief Justice Eismann was fulfilling that capacity when the appeal was filed. The identity of the other Justices who would preside over the matter was also known and it was known that all four would participate in all proceedings and deliberations. If any of those facts gave rise to concern on Petitioner's part, they should have been made known early on, at least prior to the argument. Nothing in Petitioner's motions or supporting briefs show any recently discovered facts that would cast doubt upon the ability of the three challenged Justices to perform their duties in an unbiased and impartial manner. Regardless of whether the motions were timely, no grounds exist for any of the three Justices to recuse themselves under either the Code of Judicial Conduct or Idaho law. The Code of Judicial Conduct provides that A judge shall disqualify himself or herself in a proceeding where the judge's impartiality might reasonably be questioned, including but not limited to instances where ... the judge has a personal bias or prejudice concerning a party or a party's lawyer, or has personal knowledge of disputed evidentiary facts that might reasonably affect the judge's impartiality in the proceedings. This appears to be the ground upon which Petitioner relies in his motions for disqualification. Petitioner's argument is essentially that Chief Justice Eismann had knowledge of evidentiary facts outside of the record by virtue of his position on the Council, that the Chief Justice was biased against Petitioner, and that the bias is likely to have infected the impartiality of three of the other four Justices deliberating on the case. Petitioner has cited absolutely no facts that would support the contention that the three Justices targeted by the motions for disqualification hold any animus toward Petitioner or that any three of the four remaining Justices somehow obtained knowledge of pertinent facts not contained in the record. It should be noted that this opinion addresses two primary questions. The first question is the interpretation of the words actually reside, which is a pure question of law. This question is not influenced in any manner by the facts of the case, whether they are contained in the record or elsewhere. The second question is a factual onewhether Petitioner actually resides in the county designated by the Legislature. The three Justices who are the subject of the disqualification motions have no knowledge of facts pertaining to Petitioner's actual residency, except as contained in the record. As will be apparent from the reading of this opinion, almost all of the pertinent facts relevant to this factual determination are based on statements made by Petitioner to Hamlin, testimony given by Petitioner at the Council hearing, or documents signed by Petitioner. The Court specifically advised the parties in several orders issued prior to argument that the case would be decided only upon facts contained in the record and that is precisely what the Court has done. Whether it is necessary for a judicial officer to disqualify himself in a given case is left to the sound discretion of the judicial officer himself. Sivak v. State, 112 Idaho 197, 206, 731 P.2d 192, 201 (1986). A statement of former U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist is instructive as to how an appellate judge might make a recusal decision. See Microsoft Corp. v. United States, 530 U.S. 1301, 121 S.Ct. 25, 147 L.Ed.2d 1048 (2000). There, the Chief Justice was considering whether he should recuse himself in an appeal where his son was a partner in a firm representing a party in the appeal. Chief Justice Rehnquist considered 28 U.S.C. § 455, a federal statute that sets forth the legal criteria for the disqualification of federal judicial officers. Although the federal statute and its interpretation are not binding on this Court, Chief Justice Rehnquist's statement is instructive because of the similar purpose and language in Canon 3 of the Idaho Code of Judicial Conduct and 28 U.S.C. § 455. Chief Justice Rehnquist stated: Section 455(a) contains the more general declaration that a Justice shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned. As this Court has stated, what matters under § 455(a) is not the reality of bias or prejudice but its appearance. Liteky v. United States, 510 U.S. 540, 548, 114 S.Ct. 1147 [1154] 127 L.Ed.2d 474 [486] (1994). This inquiry is an objective one, made from the perspective of a reasonable observer who is informed of all the surrounding facts and circumstances. Id. at 1302, 121 S.Ct. at 26, 147 L.Ed.2d at 1049. According to the Chief Justice, the decision whether a judge's impartiality can reasonably be questioned is to be made in light of the facts as they existed, and not as they were surmised or reported. Id. Applying this standard to his situation, the Chief Justice declined to recuse himself, concluding that his participation in the case did not give rise to an appearance of partiality. Id. Nor is such the case here. Petitioner has failed to present facts that a reasonable observer could consider in determining that recusal is appropriate. Petitioner merely speculates that Chief Justice Eismann had knowledge of facts outside of the record, which the Chief Justice denied in his sworn affidavit, and that somehow those facts were imparted to three of the four other Justices sitting on his case. He fails to disclose why the fourth Justice was not exposed to the same information. It is interesting to note that Petitioner is suing all four of the remaining Justices in his federal court action, asserting individual claims against each and every one of the four. Even had Petitioner carried his burden of showing bias or lack of impartiality, three-fourths of the panel need not have recused itself. In Eismann v. Miller, 101 Idaho 692, 619 P.2d 1145 (1980), the Court considered whether recusal was appropriate where the appellant in the case before the Court had filed a separate legal action against all members of the Court, as well as a number of trial court judges. The Justices declined to recuse themselves based on the rule of necessity. According to the Court, Ordinarily, a member or members of this court engaged in legal action with a party appearing before this court in regard to another matter would voluntarily disqualify themselves. However, this is far from an ordinary situation. Id. at 696, 619 P.2d at 1149. The Court continued: As recognized in Higer v. Hansen, 67 Idaho 45, 170 P.2d 411 (1946), where disqualification results in an absence of judicial machinery capable of dealing with the matter, disqualification must yield to necessity. 67 Idaho at 50-51, 170 P.2d at 413-14. Id. To grant Petitioner's motions for disqualification, even if they had merit, would place the decision of this Court in the hands of five pro tern justices, would require reargument of the case, and would likely produce the same result because the determination of this case will be made strictly on the facts in the record and be based upon the interpretation of the applicable law. Neither the facts nor the law would change with new judicial officers.