(PC)Sierra

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 FRANCISCO SIERRA, No. 2:21-CV-2396-DAD-DMC-P 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER 14 T. PATTERSON, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 Plaintiff, a prisoner proceeding pro se, brings this civil rights action pursuant to 18 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Pending before the Court is Plaintiff’s second motion to disqualify the 19 undersigned. See ECF No. 18. 20 Plaintiff’s motion is governed by 28 U.S.C. § 144, which provides as follows:

21 Whenever a party to any proceeding in a district court makes and files a timely and sufficient affidavit that the judge before whom the matter is 22 pending has a personal bias or prejudice either against him or in favor of any adverse party, such judge shall proceed no further therein, but another 23 judge shall be assigned to hear such proceeding. 24 Berger v. United States, 255 U.S. 22 (1922), is the primary case interpreting § 144. See U.S. v. 25 Azhocar, 581 F.2d 735, 738 (1976). As a preliminary…