Publications

As every lawyer knows, judges are expected to disqualify themselves whenever their “impartiality might reasonably be questioned.” 28 U.S.C. 455(a). There is, however, an exception to the ordinary recusal requirements, known as “the rule of necessity,” which allows judges to hear a case in which virtually all other available judges would have the same disqualifying interest, and the case could not otherwise be heard. In other words, “where all are disqualified, none are disqualified.” Pilla v. Am. Bar Ass’n, 542 F.2d 56, 59 (8th Cir. 1976). Under the rule of necessity, the U.S. Supreme Court and federal courts of appeal have heard a surprising number of cases in which judges had a personal interest in the outcome.