Maurey

MEMORANDUM *

Plaintiff-Appellant Eugene John Mau-rey (“Maurey”) sued the University of Southern California (“USC”) and Edward Blakely, the Dean of USC’s School of Urban and Regional Planning (“Dean Blakely”) (collectively referred to as “defendants”), alleging several causes of action related to his employment at USC. Mau-rey claims that he was fired and not rehired as the director of a federally funded program at USC because of his race and in violation of his employment contract. After various pre-trial proceedings, the district court granted summary judgment in favor of defendants. Maurey timely appealed, and we have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 (2000). We AFFIRM.

*532 Because the parties are familiar with the facts of this case, we recount them here only where necessary to explain our decision.

Discussion

1. Recusal

Maurey sought to recuse the presiding judge, Judge Manella, based on Judge Ma-nella’s affiliations with USC Law School. Pursuant to court rules, Maurey’s recusal motion was referred to another district court judge, Judge King, for decision. Judge King refused to recuse Judge Ma-nella.

We review for an abuse of discretion Judge King’s refusal to…