Court Opinion

ID: 9496208
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 16:20:13.57957+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:57:25.285316
License: Public Domain

TJOFLAT, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent. Because 28 U.S.C. § 455(b) required Judge Clemon to automatically disqualify himself as soon as his nephew, Terry Price, filed his notice of appearance, and Judge Clemon failed to do so, I would grant the writ of mandamus.
I.
A.
In 1974, Congress amended 28 U.S.C. § 455 “to clarify and broaden the grounds for judicial disqualification and to conform with the recently adopted ABA Code of Judicial Conduct, Canon 3C (1974).” Liljeberg v. Health Servs. Acquisition Corp., 486 U.S. 847, 859 n. 7, 108 S.Ct. 2194, 2202 n. 7, 100 L.Ed.2d 855 (1988). Prior to 1974, section 455 required a judge to “disqualify himself in any case in which he has a substantial interest, has been of counsel, is or has been a material witness, or is so related to or connected with any party or his attorney as to render it improper, in his opinion, for him to sit on the trial, appeal, or other proceeding therein.” 28 U.S.C. § 455 (1970 ed.). Under the earlier version of section 455, courts “operated under the so-called ‘duty to sit’ doctrine which required a judge to hear a case unless a clear demonstration of extra-judicial bias or prejudice was made.” United States v. Alabama, 828 F.2d 1532, 1540 (11th Cir.1987). By enacting the current version of section 455, however, Congress “did away with the ‘duty to sit’ so the benefit of the doubt is now to be resolved in favor of recusal.” Id. (footnote omitted).
Section 455 now “places a judge under a self-enforcing obligation to recuse himself where the proper legal grounds exist.” Id. The legal grounds for recusal under section 455 are outlined in subsections (a) and (b). Section 455(a) contains the general, catch-all provision that “[a]ny justice, judge, or magistrate of the United States shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably *969be questioned.” 28 U.S.C. § 455(a). Section 455(a) addresses the appearance of impropriety rather than actual bias. Summers v. Singletary, 119 F.3d 917, 920 (11th Cir.1997).1 Recusal under section 455(a) “should follow if the reasonable man, were he to know all the circumstances, would harbor doubts about the judge’s impartiality.” United States v. Alabama, 828 F.2d at 1541 (internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting Potashnick v. Port City Constr. Co., 609 F.2d 1101, 1111 (5th Cir.1980)).
In addition to addressing the appearance of impropriety under section 455(a), Congress enacted section 455(b) to protect parties from actual bias on the part of judges. Parker v. Connors Steel Co., 855 F.2d 1510, 1527 (11th Cir.1988) (“§ 455(b) is stricter than § 455(a) and is concerned with situations that may involve actual bias rather than § 455(a)’s concern with the public’s perception of the judicial process.”). Congress recognized that there are “certain situations where the potential for conflicts of interest are readily apparent.” United States v. Alabama, 828 F.2d at 1541. Congress enumerated the circumstances which it believed were likely to lead to actual bias on the part of the judge in section 455(b), and thus established a per se rule requiring automatic disqualification in any case in which any of the enumerated circumstances is present. See Summers, 119 F.3d at 920 (“§ 455(b) establishes a per se rule that lists certain circumstances requiring recusal.”).
B.
One of the circumstances in which Congress believed there would likely be actual bias on the part of the judge is when the judge’s third-degree relative appears before the judge as a lawyer for one of the parties. Congress enumerated this circumstance in section 455(b)(5)(ii), which requires a judge to automatically disqualify himself in any case in which his or his spouse’s third-degree relative “[i]s acting as a lawyer in the proceeding.” 28 U.S.C. § 455(b)(5)(h).
Congress enacted section 455(b)(5)(h) to protect parties from “homecooking” — i.e., judicial bias in favor of a third-degree relative. The version of section 455 in effect before the 1974 amendments lent itself to homecooking. Under the former section 455, recusal when a relative appeared as counsel was governed by “the so-called discretionary portion of the section, requiring disqualification where the judge ‘is so related to or connected with any party, or his attorney as to render it improper, in his opinion, for him to sit on the trial, appeal, or other proceeding therein.’ ” Laird v. Tatum, 409 U.S. 824, 829, 93 S.Ct. 7, 11, 34 L.Ed.2d 50 (1972) (quoting 28 U.S.C. § 455 (1970 ed.)) (emphasis added). As the name “discretionary portion” suggests, recusal under that portion of section 455 was left to the discretion of the judge. The statute did not specify which types of relationships would warrant recusal. In the case of familial relationships, the statute did not specify the degree of relationship that would warrant recusal. Instead, the determination of whether a relative’s presence in the case would render it improper to sit was left wholly to the particular judge’s discretion. See H.R.Rep. No. 1453 (1974), reprinted in 1974 U.S.C.C.A.N. 6351, 6352 (“[T]he statute made the judge himself the sole decider ... of the relationships which would be improper and lead to disqualification.”); United States v. Ravich, 421 F.2d 1196, 1205-06 (2d Cir.1970) (“[T]he statute *970leaves disqualification to the ‘conscience of the particular judge,’ ... with review limited to abuse of the discretion thus confided.”) (citations omitted); MacNeil Bros. Co. v. Cohen, 264 F.2d 186, 189 (1st Cir.1959) (“[W]hether a member of a court of appeals should disqualify himself because in his opinion he is so related or connected with any party or his attorney as to render it improper for him to sit in the appeal is a matter confided to the conscience of the particular judge.”). Furthermore, by using the phrase “in his opinion,” section 455 created a completely subjective standard for disqualification when the judge’s relative appeared as counsel. Liljeberg v. Health Servs. Acquisition Corp., 486 U.S. 847, 859 n. 7, 108 S.Ct. 2194, 2202 n. 7, 100 L.Ed.2d 855 (1988); H.R.Rep. No. 93-1453 (1974), reprinted in 1974 U.S.C.C.A.N. 6351, 6354-55. The statute did not provide an objective measure of how “related to or connected with a party or his attorney” a judge had to be to render it improper for him to sit on the case. The judge’s own opinion of the propriety of sitting was his only guidance.
Congress recognized that former section 455 gave the judge too much discretion in deciding whether to recuse. The subjective discretionary standard for recusal created the potential for inconsistency and abuse. There was a potential for inconsistency because some judges might be of the opinion that the presence of a fourth-degree relative would render it improper for them to sit, whereas other judges might be of the opinion that only the presence of a first-degree relative would render it improper. More importantly, however, Congress was concerned that, with no objective standard to measure their conduct by, some judges would abuse the statute by electing to remain on the case even when they knew they would be biased in favor of their relative. The statute created this potential for abuse because all the judge had to do to stay on the case when he was biased in favor of his relative was to claim that, in his opinion, he did not believe that the relationship would render it improper for him to hear the case. Congress concluded that the failure of a judge to recuse in such a situation would give the judge’s relative an unfair advantage over his adversary.
Because the judge had so much discretion to refrain from recusing when his relative appeared as a lawyer in a proceeding before him, former section 455 created the incentive for parties to hire the judge’s relative to gain an unfair advantage over their adversaries. As the initiators of a lawsuit, plaintiffs could hire the judge’s relative before filing suit in order to secure an unfair advantage before the defendant even knew he was being sued. Alternatively, defendants who were routinely sued in the judge’s jurisdiction could keep the judge’s relative on retainer so that, when sued, they would have an unfair advantage if the case were assigned to that particular judge. Keeping the judge’s relative on retainer would also prevent plaintiffs from securing the unfair advantage of having the judge’s relative as their attorney.
By enacting section 455(b)(5)(ii), Congress sought to eliminate judicial bias in favor of parties represented by the judge’s third-degree relative. The passage of section 455(b)(5)(ii) thus removed the judge’s discretion by requiring the judge to automatically recuse as soon as his third-degree relative appeared, without exception. See United States v. Equifax, Inc., 557 F.2d 456, 463 (5th Cir.1977)2 (noting that *971section 455(b) (5)(ii) requires automatic disqualification whenever the judge’s third-degree relative actively participates in the proceeding); In re Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co., 919 F.2d 1136, 1147 (6th Cir.1990) (Kennedy, J., concurring) (“The statute contemplates a bright line test- — if a person within the third degree of relationship to the judge or the judge’s spouse is acting as a lawyer in the proceeding, the judge is disqualified.”) (emphasis added). Thus, a judge does not have the discretion to examine a party’s motives for choosing the judge’s third-degree relative as counsel before deciding to recuse; instead, the judge must automatically step down as soon as his third-degree relative appears.
If the judge had discretion to decide whether to recuse under section 455(b)(5)(ii), parties in the respondents’ position would be faced with a far more troubling disadvantage than the instant case presents. Under those circumstances, parties could hire Price so that his relationship to Judge Clemon would influence Judge Clemon to rule in their favor, and Judge Clemon could refuse to recuse after concluding that, in his opinion, Price’s appearance would not affect his impartiality. This would allow Judge Clemon to decide not to recuse even though Congress specifically determined that the appearance of the judge’s third-degree relative as counsel creates a situation in which “the potential for conflicts of interest are readily apparent.” United States v. Alabama, 828 F.2d 1532, 1541 (11th Cir.1987). This is the greater evil that Congress meant to prevent by making disqualification under section 455(b) automatic and taking the discretion away from the judge. Congress recognized that a party appearing before a judge whose third-degree relative was representing that party’s adversary would be faced with a deck of cards that was stacked against him. Instead of granting the judge the discretion to decide whether the deck was truly stacked, Congress provided for an automatic reshuffling of the deck.
Congress undoubtedly realized that sophisticated parties would hire a judge’s third-degree relative to force recusal of a judge they did not want. By enacting section 455(b)(5)(ii), Congress sought to protect parties from the bias of homecook-ing by eliminating the possibility that parties could hire a judge’s third-degree relative to secure favorable treatment from the judge, but, in protecting parties from homecooking, Congress also created the incentive for parties to escape other types of bias — such as ideological bias — -by hiring the judge’s third-degree relative to force the judge’s recusal. Congress accepted this drawback because section 455(b)(5)(ii) solved the problem of actual bias in favor of the judge’s relative which existed under the former statute. Also, Congress recognized that the forced recu-sal of the judge and reassignment to another judge would not significantly harm the party who is not represented by the judge’s relative. Congress decided that a reshuffling of the deck was preferable to allowing the judge to continue with a stacked deck, even though this reshuffling would cause some inconvenience. With the reshuffling, parties in the petitioners’ position lose an unfair advantage, whereas parties in the respondents’ position lose nothing because they are not entitled to a judge of their choice in the first place.
Under section 455(b)(5)(ii), Judge Clem-on was required to automatically disqualify himself as soon as Price filed his notice of appearance. Indeed, even the case upon which the majority relies for its decision that Price should have been disqualified instead of Judge Clemon, McCuin v. Tex. Power & Light Co., 714 F.2d 1255 (5th Cir.1983), recognizes that a judge must automatically disqualify himself from the *972case as soon as his or his spouse’s third-degree relative makes an appearance. In McCuin, the defendants employed as their counsel the brother-in-law of the district judge before whom they had two cases pending. Instead of recusing, the judge reassigned the cases to another judge who determined that the defendants’ employment of the judge’s brother-in-law was a sham designed to force the judge to disqualify himself. The Fifth Circuit vacated the reassignment because the judge “was required to disqualify himself as soon as he became aware that his brother-in-law had been enrolled as counsel” and he “should not have taken any further action in either case.” McCuin, 714 F.2d at 1257. The court recognized that Congress amended the statute to mandate automatic disqualification when a third-degree relative of the judge or the judgé’s spouse appears as counsel. Id. at 1259-60.
As in McCuin, Judge Clemon violated section 455(b)(5) (ii) when he failed to re-cuse as soon as his third-degree relative appeared as counsel. Instead, Judge Clemon stayed all proceedings and referred the case to the clerk for random assignment to another judge to decide the respondents’ motion to disqualify Price and his law firm. The majority approves of this course of action because it was the “functional equivalent” of recusal, but the statute requires actual recusal, not its functional equivalent.3 The only appropriate course of action available to Judge Clemon when his nephew filed a notice of appearance was to disqualify himself as required by section 455(b)(5)(ii).
Judge demon’s refusal to recuse also violated section 455(b)(5)(iii) because Judge Clemon knew that Price had an interest that could be affected by the outcome of the proceeding. Section 455(b)(5)(iii) requires a judge to automatically disqualify himself from a case in which his third-degree relative “[i]s known by the judge to have an interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome of the proceeding.” 28 U.S.C. § 455(b)(5)(iii); see also Potashnick v. Port City Constr. Co., 609 F.2d 1101, 1113—14 (5th Cir.1980) (“The language of section 455(b)(5)(iii) does not require the judge to *973investigate whether his lawyer-relative’s interest will in fact be affected by the outcome of the proceeding. Instead, the statute requires automatic disqualification when the judge in a proceeding knows of his relative’s interest, and the outcome of the proceeding may potentially affect that interest.”) (emphasis added). In Potashnick, the former Fifth Circuit held that “when a partner in a law firm is related to a judge within the third degree, that partner will always be ‘known by the judge to have an interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome’ of a proceeding involving the partner’s law firm.” 609 F.2d at 1118. Because Price is a partner in Lehr Middlebrooks, Judge Clemon knew that his third-degree relative had an interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome of the proceeding. He was therefore obligated to step down as soon as be became aware that BellSouth had retained Lehr Middlebrooks, and his failure to do so was a violation section 455(b)(5)(iii).
Judge Smith’s disqualification of Price and his law firm also violated section 455(b) because Judge Smith had no basis to hear the motion to disqualify Price and his law firm. Judge Clemon should have recused, the case should have been randomly assigned to another judge, and the motion to disqualify Price should not have been considered.
C.
Although the majority agrees that section 455 creates a bright-line duty on the part of the judge to recuse when his third-degree relative appears as counsel, the majority concludes that the judge’s relative should be disqualified instead of the judge when the relative is chosen to force the judge to recuse. For this position, the majority relies in part on McCuin v. Tex. Power & Light Co., 714 F.2d 1255 (5th Cir.1983). The majority’s reliance on McCuin is misplaced because, in reaching its decision on disqualification of counsel, the Fifth Circuit misapplied language from the legislative history for section 455(a) to Section 455(b). The majority relies on McCuin because the Fifth Circuit concluded, in dicta, that “counsel may not be chosen solely or primarily for the purpose of disqualifying the judge” and that disqualification was the appropriate remedy for violating this prohibition. McCuin, 714 F.2d at 1264. This finding, however, was based primarily on language in the legislative history for section 455(a). See id. (“The drafters'of section 455 warned that ‘each judge must be alert to avoid the possibility that those who would [seek his disqualification] are in fact seeking to avoid the consequences of his expected adverse decision.’ ”) (quoting H.R.Rep. No. 93-1458 (1974), reprinted in 1974 U.S.C.C.A.N. 6351, 6355). The legislative history upon which the Fifth Circuit relied in McCuin does not support that court’s finding that the judge’s relative should be disqualified; instead, the legislative history adds further support to my position that Congress intended that recusal under section 455(b) be automatic, without exception. The legislative history in question states, in pertinent part:
[I]n assessing the reasonableness of a challenge to his impartiality, each judge must be alert to avoid the possibility that those who would question his impartiality are in fact seeking to avoid the consequences of his expected adverse decision. Disqualification for lack of impartiality must have a reasonable basis. Nothing in this proposed legislation should be read to warrant the transformation of a litigant’s fear that a judge may decide a question against him into a “reasonable fear” that the judge will not be impartial. Litigants ought not have to face a judge where there is a reason*974able question of impartiality, but they are not entitled to judges of their own choice.
H.R.Rep. No. 93-1453 (1974), reprinted in 1974 U.S.C.C.A.N. 6351, 6355 (emphasis added).
The problem with applying this language to section 455(b), as the McCuin court did, is that, by its very terms, this language only applies to cases in which the judge’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned under section 455(a). In the same legislative history, Congress noted that section 455(a) was intended to “set[] up an objective standard, rather than the subjective standard set forth in the existing statute through use of the phrase ‘in his opinion.’ ” Id. at 6354-55. This objective standard is a reasonableness standard; the judge must recuse if there is a reasonable basis to question his impartiality. The legislative history relied upon by McCuin is only meant to inform the judge’s determination of whether there is a reasonable basis to question the judge’s impartiality under section 455(a). There will be a reasonable basis to question the judge’s impartiality “if the reasonable man, were he to know all the circumstances, would harbor doubts about the judge’s impartiality.” United States v. Alabama, 828 F.2d 1532, 1541 (11th Cir.1987) (internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting Potashnick v. Port City Constr. Co., 609 F.2d 1101, 1111 (5th Cir.1980)).
Congress recognized that parties would attempt to use section 455(a) for the sole purpose of forcing disqualification of judges whom they feared would make rulings adverse to their positions. For this reason, the legislative history quoted by the McCuin court informs the judge that a reasonable man would not question the judge’s impartiality if the reasonable man knew that the only reason a party sought to recuse the judge was that the party feared the judge would rule against him. Therefore, if this is the party’s only motive for seeking recusal, the judge should not recuse because his impartiality cannot reasonably be questioned. This language simply cannot apply to section 455(b) because section 455(b) does not have a reasonableness standard; instead, Section 455(b) requires automatic disqualification in any case in which any of the listed circumstances are present.
The legislative history indicates that Congress recognized that parties would invoke section 455(a) for the sole purpose of forcing disqualification of a judge. If Congress recognized this possibility, it must also have recognized that parties could hire a judge’s third-degree relative for the sole purpose of forcing the judge to disqualify himself. Yet, Congress only warned judges to consider a party’s motives for seeking recusal under section 455(a); there is no analogous cautionary language for section 455(b) because Congress intended that recusal under that section be automatic and that the judge have no discretion to consider a party’s motives.
It is clear from the legislative history that Congress did not intend that there be any discretion not to recuse under section 455(b). In addition to section 455(a)’s catch-all provision requiring disqualification if the judge’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned, Congress set forth specific situations in which a judge must disqualify himself in order to “eliminate the uncertainty and ambiguity arising from the language in the existing statute and ... [to aid] the judges in avoiding possible criticism for failure to disqualify themselves.” H.R.Rep. No. 93-1453, reprinted in 1974 U.S.C.C.A.N. 6351, 6355. Whenever a judge is presented with any of the circumstances listed in section 455(b), his course of action is certain and unambigu*975ous — the statute informs him that he must step aside.
Finally, section 455(e) is also instructive of Congress’s intention to make disqualification under section 455(b) automatic. Section 455(e) prohibits the judge from “accepting] from the parties ... a waiver of any ground for disqualification enumerated in subsection (b),” but “[wjhere 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.” 28 U.S.C. 455(e). Congress was so concerned about the risk that a judge would be biased against a party if any of the circumstances fisted in section 455(b) were present that it prohibited waiver of disqualification in those circumstances. On the other hand, Congress decided to allow waiver when the judge’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned under section 455(a) because the concern that the judge would be biased against a party was not as great if the factors fisted in section 455(b) were not present. For the same reasons, Congress decided that disqualification under section 455(b) would be automatic while disqualification under section 455(a) would only occur if there was a reasonable basis to question the judge’s impartiality after considering the parties’ motives for seeking disqualification.
II.
In addition to violating section 455(b), Judge Clemon and Judge Smith also violated BellSouth’s right to counsel of choice. The Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause guarantees civil litigants the right to retained counsel, which ordinarily includes the right to be represented by the counsel of their choice. McCuin v. Tex. Power & Light Co., 714 F.2d 1255, 1262 (5th Cir.1983) (citing Potashnick v. Port City Constr. Co., 609 F.2d 1101, 1118 (5th Cir.1980), and Powell v. Alabama, 287 U.S. 45, 53 S.Ct. 55, 77 L.Ed. 158 (1932)). Therefore, disqualification of counsel “is an extreme remedy that will not be imposed lightly.” Duncan v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, 646 F.2d 1020, 1025 n. 6 (5th Cir.1981). The right to counsel of choice can be overridden in cases in which the choice of counsel interferes with the orderly administration of justice. Kleiner v. First Nat’l Bank of Atlanta, 751 F.2d 1193, 1209 (11th Cir.1985); United States v. Dinitz, 538 F.2d 1214, 1219 (5th Cir.1976). The majority concludes that, in this case, BellSouth’s right to counsel of choice must yield to the district court’s power to ensure the orderly administration of justice because Price was chosen as counsel to force Judge demon’s recusal. I do not believe this case falls within the district court’s power to ensure the orderly administration of justice.
Congress fully anticipated that recusal under section 455(b) would cause the administrative delay which troubles the majority when a judge is required to recuse. This delay is inherent in the statute. The statute requires a judge to step aside when his third-degree relative makes an appearance as counsel in the proceeding. Once the judge steps aside, the court will be required to randomly reassign the case to a judge who is not disqualified. This process will cause minimal delay and disruption, but Congress obviously recognized that this would occur and determined that it was acceptable.
Contrary to what the majority contends, the minimal delay that inevitably occurs when a judge is disqualified and another judge is assigned to the case does not implicate the district court’s power to ensure the orderly administration of justice. In Kleiner, we recognized that district courts “possess the inherent- power to protect the orderly administration of justice *976and to preserve the dignity of the tribunal.” 751 F.2d at 1209. The majority describes BellSouth’s retention of Price as “a contrivance to interfere with the judicial assignment process [which] constitutes a threat to the orderly administration of justice.” Price’s appearance as counsel for BellSouth from the outset of this case, however, posed no threat to the orderly administration of justice. If Judge Clem-on had recused as soon as Price filed his notice of appearance, as he was required to do by section 455(b), his recusal would not have disrupted the orderly administration of justice. In the eleven days between the filing of the complaint and Price’s appearance, the district court and the respondents took no action whatsoever. The mandatory disqualification of Judge Clem-on at that time would not have led to significant delay, waste of resources, or deprivation of respondents’ rights. The case would have been randomly reassigned to another judge who would have taken the first action in the case. Respondents would have only lost eleven days of inactivity and their judge of choice, a luxury to which they were not entitled in the first place. This minimal inconvenience would have been no greater than the inconvenience contemplated by Congress when it chose to make recusal under section 455(b) automatic.
In comparison, if the district court’s decision is allowed to stand, the petitioners will have been denied their right to counsel of choice, Price and his law firm will have lost legal fees they would have earned from representing the petitioners in this case, and a clear violation of section 455(b) will have gone uncorrected. I see no justification for allowing these deprivations to stand when the district court and the respondents suffered no harm from Price’s appearance. This case simply does not fall within the district court’s power to ensure the orderly administration of justice.
Furthermore, our decision in Robinson v. Boeing Co., 79 F.3d 1053 (11th Cir.1996), is clearly inapplicable to the facts of this case. In Robinson, we upheld the district court’s decision to deny the defendant’s request to add Price as counsel after fifteen months of proceedings before Judge demon. In so doing, we outlined factors for a trial court to consider “in deciding whether to allow substitute or additional counsel in the exercise of this discretion^ which] include the fundamental right to counsel, the court’s docket, the injury to the plaintiff, the delay in reaching decision, the judicial time invested, the expense to the parties objecting, and the potential for manipulation or impropriety.” 79 F.3d at 1055. These factors, however, are clearly inapplicable to this case. In this case, the trial court never had the occasion to decide whether to allow substitute or additional counsel because Price appeared as Bell-South’s counsel from the outset, eleven days after the complaint was filed. This simply is not a case in which it can be argued that BellSouth chose Price as counsel to force the district court and the respondents to start from scratch with a new judge after expending significant resources.
The majority also relies on McCuin v. Tex. Power & Light Co., 714 F.2d 1255 (5th Cir.1983), and In re FCC, 208 F.3d 137 (2nd Cir.2000), for its position that the right to counsel of choice should be overridden when counsel is retained to force a judge’s recusal. Like Robinson, these cases are inapposite because counsel was retained after the court had invested substantial resources in the case. In McCuin, the defendant retained the judge’s brother-in-law as additional counsel six years after proceedings began before the judge. 714 F.2d at 1258. In In re FCC, the debtor in a bankruptcy proceeding retained the law firm in which one *977of the judges on the panel had been a partner as additional counsel to argue rehearing of an appeal before the same panel that decided the first appeal. 208 F.3d at 138. In both of these cases, the courts were legitimately concerned that the forced recusal of a judge after significant time and resources had been invested in the case would interfere with the orderly administration of justice. This case does not raise those concerns. There was no basis to deny BellSouth of its counsel of choice.
If the majority is correct that the recu-sal statute authorizes the disqualification of counsel hired to force recusal of the first judge, this will require an evidentiary hearing before a second judge every time the first judge’s third-degree relative is retained as counsel and the opposing party would like the proceedings to remain before the first judge. Under the majority’s scheme, a party who wants the first judge to stay on the case because of a type of bias not covered by the recusal statute—e.g., ideological bias — will always move to disqualify the relative once he appears as counsel in the ease, even if the relative is retained for legitimate reasons long before the complaint is ever filed. In every such case, the motion to disqualify will force an evidentiary hearing before a second judge to determine the party’s motivation for hiring the judge’s relative; this hearing will be necessary even if the motion to disqualify the relative is baseless because the first judge is conflicted and thus cannot rule that the motion is baseless. Also, the first judge will be a material witness, whether or not he is called to testify, regarding the issue of whether his relative was hired to force his recusal. As a witness, the first judge would be open to questioning concerning the bias which has motivated one party to force his recusal and the other party to move to disqualify his relative so that the judge can stay on the case. The reassignment of the motion to disqualify counsel to a second judge for an evidentiary hearing — with the potential that the first judge will be called as a material witness — will cause far more disruption to the district court’s docket than the first judge’s automatic recusal and the random reassignment of the case to another judge. Furthermore, the disruption inherent in the majority’s scheme was not contemplated by Congress, whereas the disruption caused by automatic recusal and random reassignment was obviously an intended consequence of the recusal statute.
To illustrate how problematic the majority’s position is, allow me to posit a hypothetical situation. Assume a case in which the judge’s relative is hired to avoid the judge’s ideology — i.e., his view of the law applicable to the case at hand. The judge is notorious for consistently ruling against the position the party will advance because he harbors an ideological bias against that position. The relative is hired to force the judge’s recusal so that the party can avoid the judge’s ideological bias. The party advancing the position that the judge consistently favors files a motion to disqualify the judge’s relative in an effort to ensure that the case will stay before the judge and the party will benefit from the judge’s ideological bias.
Under the majority’s scheme, the judge confronted with this hypothetical situation would be required to refer the motion to disqualify counsel to the clerk for random reassignment to another judge who would be required to hold an evidentiary hearing on the party’s motivations for hiring the judge’s relative. The breadth of the inquiry before the second judge obviously would admit of evidence of the judge’s ideological bias on the given issue. In the hearing, the party who filed the motion to disqualify the relative would have the burden of proof on his claim that his adver*978sary hired the judge’s relative solely to disqualify the judge. The. moving party cannot meet that burden simply by showing a pattern of parties hiring the judge’s relative when cases involving the same issue are assigned to the judge, he must also show why his adversary would want to avoid litigating the case before the judge.4 The reason of course would be that the judge would likely rule in the moving party’s favor. The best evidence of this would be the judge’s rulings in past cases which consistently agreed with the position advocated by the moving party. In other words, the moving party must demonstrate that the judge is likely to be biased in his favor to prove that his adversary had a reason to force the judge’s recusal. Moreover, the party who hired the judge’s relative might call the opposing party’s attorney to the stand — the lawyer who moved to disqualify the relative — to inquire into his motives for filing the motion. It is likely to appear that his motive is not to advance the orderly administration of justice or to preserve the integrity of the court, but rather to have the relative removed so that the judge can stay on the case and rule in his favor.
Presumably, one goal of the majority’s position is to return the conflicted judge to the case after the second judge concludes from the evidentiary hearing that the party’s motive for hiring the relative was to force recusal of the judge. If the goal were not to return the case to the first judge, then a party could force the recusal of the judge with impunity as long as he is willing to go forward with new counsel, hired in place of the disqualified relative, once the case has been reassigned. On the matter of reassignment to the first judge, however, once it has been established (before the second judge) that the relative was hired so his client could avoid the first judge’s ideological bias against parties advancing his position, reassigning the case to the first judge — in the face of an implicit, if not explicit, finding of ideological bias — would be highly problematical. Following an evidentiary hearing in which the moving party demonstrates that the first judge is likely to be biased in his favor and thé relative was hired to avoid this bias, and it appears that the moving party only wants the case returned to the first judge so that he cancapitalize on the judge’s bias in favor of his position, there would be, at the very least, a reasonable basis to question the first judge’s impartiality under section 455(a), if the case were reassigned to him. Even if the judge could remain unbiased after such an ordeal, the public’s perception of the judiciary would be tarnished if counsel were disqualified and the case were reassigned to the original judge. Section 455(a) would thus prevent the case from being reassigned to the original judge after the events of the evidentiary hearing.
At the end of the day, under the majority’s scheme, the lawyer is punished for making an appearance which his client intended to force recusal of the judge, but the client still gets what he wants: a trial before another judge. The majority is concerned that a contrary ruling would encourage the lawyer to sell his relationship to the judge rather than his professional services, but this possibility still exists under the majority’s system. If the client wants to avoid the judge, he will still hire the relative, knowing that he will be *979forced to go forward with new counsel after the evidentiary hearing reveals that both the relative and the judge should be disqualified. Given these circumstances, it is clear that the majority’s position would cause a great deal of disruption to the district court’s docket as well as damage to the public’s perception of the judiciary without achieving the stated goal of preventing parties from hiring the judge’s relative to force his recusal. Avoiding this ugly scenario is why Congress opted to eliminate a hearing on a party’s motive for hiring the judge’s relative in the first place.
III.
To correct Judge demon’s clear violation of section 455 and the deprivation of BellSouth’s right to counsel of choice, we should grant the writ of mandamus. Mandamus is the appropriate remedy for a judge’s failure to recuse when required to do so by the recusal statute. See In re Corrugated Container Antitrust Litig., 614 F.2d 958, 961 n. 4 (5th Cir.1980) (“We do not deny our authority to review on mandamus the question of disqualification. Courts not infrequently reach the merits of disqualification issues on a consideration of whether mandamus will issue.”); Davis v. Bd. of Sch. Comm’rs, 517 F.2d 1044, 1051 (5th Cir.1975) (“[Section 455] may ... be asserted by a party ... by mandamus.”) (citations omitted). Mandamus is a drastic remedy “to be invoked only in extraordinary situations.... Only exceptional circumstances, amounting to a judicial usurpation of power, will justify the invocation of this extraordinary remedy.” Allied Chem. Corp. v. Daiflon, Inc., 449 U.S. 33, 34-35, 101 S.Ct. 188, 190, 66 L.Ed.2d 193 (1980). “The Supreme Court has repeatedly stated ... that issuance of a writ of mandamus lies in large part within the discretion of the court.” United States v. Denson, 603 F.2d 1143, 1146 (5th Cir.1979). Because, as a general rule, “appellate review should be postponed ... until after final judgment ...,” Will v. United States, 389 U.S. 90, 96, 88 S.Ct. 269, 274, 19 L.Ed.2d 305 (1967), “the party seeking issuance of the writ [must] have no other adequate means to attain the relief he desires.... ” Kerr v. United States Dist. Court, 426 U.S. 394, 403, 96 S.Ct. 2119, 2124, 48 L.Ed.2d 725 (1976). Petitioners have the burden of showing that their “right to the issuance of the writ is ‘clear and indisputable.’ ” Will v. United States, 389 U.S. at 96, 88 S.Ct. at 274 (quoting Bankers Life and Cas. Co. v. Holland, 346 U.S. 379, 384, 74 S.Ct. 145, 148, 98 L.Ed. 106 (1953)). “The writ of mandamus is an order directing a public official ... to perform a duty exacted by law,” United States v. Denson, 603 F.2d at 1146, and “will not issue to correct a duty that is to any degree debatable.... ” Id. at 1147 n. 2.
In this case, petitioners have met their burden of showing a clear and indisputable right to relief. They have shown that Judge Clemon had a duty to recuse under section 455(b) as soon as Price filed Ms notice of appearance. Judge demon’s duty to recuse under section 455(b) is not debatable; Congress clearly intended that recusal under this section be mandatory and automatic, without exception. Judge demon’s failure to recuse and his decision to reassign the motion to disqualify Price to another judge amounted to a judicial usurpation of power which led to the deprivation of BellSouth’s counsel of choice. Judge Smith’s order disqualifying Price and his law firm was a further usurpation of power because Judge Smith had no authority to consider the motion to disqualify, much less grant it. By granting the motion, Judge Smith deprived Bell-South of its counsel of choice. We should issue the writ of mandamus to correct *980these violations of section 455 and the deprivation of BellSouth’s counsel of choice.

. In Summers, we held that a motion to disqualify a judge under § 455(b) must be timely filed. 119 F.3d at 921. We did not address or decide the issue of whether recusal under § 455(b) is automatic.

. In Bonner v. City of Prichard, 661 F.2d 1206, 1209 (11th Cir.1981) (en banc), this court adopted as binding precedent all decisions of the former Fifth Circuit handed down prior to October 1, 1981.

. The majority contends that Judge demon's actions were the functional equivalent of re-cusal because he removed himself from the case unless and until a randomly assigned judge eliminated his conflict by disqualifying Price and his law firm. The majority sees no substantial difference between Judge Clem-on's actions and a recusal because both would involve a referral to the clerk for random reassignment to another judge. While it is true that recusal would also have involved random reassignment, the substantial difference lies in the fact that, if Judge Clemon had truly recused, the case would have been randomly reassigned to another judge in its entirety, eliminating the conflict and the possibility that the case would be reassigned back to Judge Clemon. The motion to disqualify Price would not have been heard, and Price would have remained on the case.
The majority argues, in the alternative, that, even if Judge demon’s refusal to recüse were technical error, this error would not warrant the extraordinary remedy of mandamus because his order directing the clerk to randomly reassign the case to another judge was a "purely ministerial function” which "in no way prejudiced any party’s substantive rights or called into question the integrity of the judicial process.” I disagree. BellSouth’s right to counsel of choice was prejudiced by the unnecessary referral of the motion to disqualify Price to a randomly chosen judge. At a time when Judge Clemon should have re-cused, rendering the motion to disqualify obsolete, Judge Clemon referred the matter to the clerk for reassignment which led to Judge Smith's order depriving BellSouth of its counsel of choice and left open the possibility that Judge Clemon could return to the case. The recusal statute was designed to require automatic recusal of the conflicted judge, not to deprive a litigant of his counsel of choice and leave open the possibility for the conflicted judge to return to the case.

. If the court were to disqualify the relative simply because there is a pattern of other clients hiring him in similar cases before the judge — without also finding that the client in the current case has a reason to want the judge’s recusal — this would inevitably lead to the relative being punished for appearing before the judge on behalf of clients who have innocently hired him.