Pogue

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

JARED ANDREW MARTIN, Case No. 1:21-cv-01622-JLT-SAB-HC

Petitioner, ORDER DENYING PETITIONER’S

MOTION TO DISQUALIFY

v. (ECF No. 18) CHRISTIAN PFEIFFER,

Respondent.

16 Petitioner is a state prisoner proceeding pro se in a habeas corpus action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. On January 26, 2022, Petitioner filed a motion to disqualify the undersigned. (ECF No. 18). A judge is required to disqualify himself if his impartiality might reasonably be questioned. 28 U.S.C. § 455(a). A judge shall also disqualify himself if he has “personal knowledge of disputed evidentiary facts concerning the proceeding.” 28 U.S.C. § 455(b)(1). The decision regarding disqualification is made by the judge whose impartiality is at issue. Bernard v. Coyne, 31 F.3d 842, 843 (9th Cir. 1994). Opinions formed during the course of judicial proceedings “almost never constitute a valid basis for a bias or partiality motion” and can only do so “in the rarest circumstances” where the opinions reveal “such a high…