Peter J. Strauss v. United States District Court for the District of South Carolina
FifthAmendment
Must a district court judge recuse himself when an expert affidavit challenges his impartiality after reporting a criminal defendant's attorney to an ethics commission for invoking Fifth Amendment rights?
QUESTION PRESENTED Must a district court judge recuse himself in a criminal case pursuant to 28 U.S.C. $8144 and 455 when provided a timely and sufficient expert affidavit required by 28 U.S.C. §144 and after the judge had become an adverse witness to the said criminal defendant attorney by wrongfully reporting him to the state’s ethics commission for invoking his Fifth Amendment rights in violation of U.S. Supreme Court precedent in a prior civil proceeding, both circumstances of which would lead an objective observer to reasonably question the judge’s impartiality?