"... even if there is no showing of actual bias ... , this Court has held that due process is denied by circumstances that create the likelihood or the appearance of bias."
[Peters v. Kiff , 407 U.S. 493 at 502 (1971)]
Black's Law Dictionary, Sixth Edition, p. 299
Conflict of interest. Term used in connection with public officials and fiduciaries and their relationship to matters of private interest or gain to them. Ethical problems connected therewith are covered by statutes in most jurisdictions and by federal statutes on the federal level. The Code of Professional Responsibility and Model Rules of Professional Conduct set forth standards for actual or potential conflicts of interest between attorney and client. Generally, when used to suggest disqualification of a public official from performing his sworn duty, term "conflict of interest" refers to a clash between public interest and the private pecuniary interest of the individual concerned. Gardner v. Nashville Housing Authority of Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davison County, Tenn., C.A.Tenn., 514 F.2d 38, 41. A situation in which regard for one duty tends to lead to disregard of another. U.S. v. Miller, C.A.Mass., 463 F.2d 600, 602.
A conflict of interest arises when a government employee's personal or financial interest conflicts or appears to conflict with his official responsibility. 18 U.S.C.A. §203 et seq.
[Black's Law Dictionary, Sixth Edition, p. 299]
Chief Justice Marshal, Virginia State Convention of 1829-1830 (pp. 616, 619)
'The Judicial Department comes home in its effects to every man's fireside; it passes on his property, his reputation, his life, his all. Is it not, to the last degree important, that he should be rendered perfectly and completely independent, with nothing to influence or control him but God and his conscience? * * * I have always thought, from my earliest youth till now, that the greatest scourge an angry Heaven ever inflicted upon an ungrateful and a sinning people, was an ignorant, a corrupt, or a dependent Judiciary.'
[Chief Justice Marshal, Virginia State Convention of 1829-1830 (pp. 616, 619)]
O'Donoghue v. United States, 289 U.S. 516, 532 (1933)
“. . .if they (the people) value and wish to preserve their Constitution, they ought never to surrender the independence of their judges.”
[O'Donoghue v. United States, 289 U.S. 516, 532 (1933)]
Ninth Circuit Judicial Misconduct
Rules
Recusal: Analysis of Case Law
Under 28 U.S.C. § 455 & 144 (254 Kbytes)
Voir Dire
of Federal Judge, Litigation Tool #06.002 (OFFSITE LINK)
Code of Conduct for U.S. Judges-Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts
Model Code of Conduct for State Administrative Law Judges-National Association of Administrative Law Judges
Affidavit of Prejudice and Civil complaint Against Judge, Litigation Tool #07.002 (OFFSITE LINK)
Criminal Complaint Against Public Officers, Litigation Tool #07.001 (OFFSITE LINK)
Rule 403. Exclusion of Relevant Evidence on Grounds of Prejudice, Confusion, or Waste of Time
Although relevant, evidence may be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or misleading the jury, or by considerations of undue delay, waste of time, or needless presentation of cumulative evidence.
Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, Rule 21: Transfer of Trial
V. VENUE > Rule 21.
(a) For Prejudice.
Upon the defendant's motion, the court must transfer the proceeding against that defendant to another district if the court is satisfied that so great a prejudice against the defendant exists in the transferring district that the defendant cannot obtain a fair and impartial trial there.
Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure, rule 14: Relief from Prejudicial Joinder
IV. ARRAIGNMENT AND PREPARATION FOR TRIAL > Rule 14
Rule 14. Relief from Prejudicial Joinder
(a) Relief.
If the joinder of offenses or defendants in an indictment, an information, or a consolidation for trial appears to prejudice a defendant or the government, the court may order separate trials of counts, sever the defendants' trials, or provide any other relief that justice requires.
"It
is left... to the juries, if they think the permanent judges are under
any bias whatever in any cause, to take on themselves to judge the law
as well as the fact. They never exercise this power but when they suspect
partiality in the judges; and by the exercise of this power they have
been the firmest bulwarks of English liberty."
[Thomas Jefferson to Abbe Arnoux, 1789. ME 7:423, Papers 15:283]
"The king establishes the land by justice; but he who receives bribes overthrows it."
[Prov. 29:4, Bible, NKJV]
"And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the discerning and perverts the words of the righteous."
[Exodus 23:8, Bible, NKJV]
"He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house,
But he who hates bribes
will live."
[Prov. 15:27, Bible, NKJV]
"Surely oppression
destroys a wise man's reason.
And a bribe debases the
heart."
[Ecclesiastes 7:7, Bible, NKJV]
28 U.S.C. §455: Disqualification of justice, judge, or magistrate judge
28 U.S.C. §144: Bias or Prejudice of Judge
18 U.S.C. Part 1, Chapter 11: Bribery, Graft, and Conflict of Interest