IOP 5: Recusal

1. Judges will consult the certificate of interest (Fed. Cir. R. 47.4) in determining whether a basis for recusal exists.

2. Alternatively, a judge may supply the clerk with a written list of circumstances which would require the judge’s recusal, including, e.g., names of businesses or corporations in which the judge or family members have a financial interest, and names of lawyers or law firms whose appearance or participation as counsel would require the judge’s recusal. The clerk will compare the list supplied by a judge with the certificates of interest and names of counsel filed in cases calendared for hearing by a panel on which the judge sits, and will notify the judge of any potential basis for recusal.

3. A judge who finds recusal necessary or advisable will, as early as possible, notify the other members of the panel and the chief judge. In preargument/presubmission cases, the chief judge will name a substitute to serve as though originally a member of the panel. When a recusal occurs after a case is argued or submitted, the procedures of Fed. Cir. R. 47.11 will be followed.