Ford

On February 20, 2018, defendant filed a motion to recuse the undersigned from presiding over this action, as well as a motion to stay the briefing on the government's pending motion for summary judgment until the recusal motion is ruled upon. (Doc. No. 36.)

Defendant's motion to recuse is brought pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 455 ( id. at 8 ), which provides, in part:

The standard for recusal under § 455 is "whether a reasonable person with knowledge of all the facts would conclude that the judge's impartiality might reasonably be questioned." Mayes v. Leipziger , 729 F.2d 605 , 607 (9th Cir. 1984) (quoting United States v. Nelson , 718 F.2d 315 , 321 (9th Cir. 1983) ). Unlike a motion to disqualify under 28 U.S.C. § 144 , § 455 has no procedural requirements and includes no provision for the referral of the question of recusal to another judge. See United States v. Sibla , 624 F.2d 864 , 867-68 (9th Cir. 1980). Thus, the decision regarding disqualification under § 455 is made by *1140 the judge whose impartiality is at issue. See In re Bernard , 31 F.3d 842 , 843 (9th Cir. 1994).

Here, defendant asserts that the undersigned must be recused because the undersigned "falsified the…