judge recusal
How does one find a judge for highly publicized issues?
<p>For example, suppose Donald Trump is brought to trial for inciting the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol.</p>
<p>It's virtually inconceivable that there'll be any judge who hasn't seen that incident in the news. Therefore they already have some knowledge of the facts of the case and could very well have formed an opinion on it. Since judges are <a href="https://www.lawyers.com/legal-info/research/well-recuse-me-when-a-judge-shouldnt-try-a-case.html" rel="noreferrer">expected to recuse if they have personal knowledge of disputed facts</a>, how would one find an impartial judge for the trial?</p>
<p>NB: This particular case I would expect to be argued in the US Supreme Court, for which there are only 9 judges, but I am also interested in other well-publicized cases which are undergoing (or have already undergone) <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_by_media" rel="noreferrer">trial by media</a> that might be argued in a lower court.</p>

<p>&quot;Personal knowledge of disputed facts&quot; doesn't refer to awareness of news reports or other facts available in the public record.  That is public knowledge, not personal knowledge.</p>
<p>It rather refers to private knowledge that the judge (or people who are closely related to the judge) might have of pertinent facts.  For example, California <a href="https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=170.1.&amp;lawCode=CCP" rel="noreferrer">Code of Civil Procedure 170.1</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>(a) A judge shall be disqualified if any one or more of the following are true:</p>
<p>(1) (A) The judge has personal knowledge of disputed evidentiary facts concerning the proceeding.</p>
<p>(B) A judge shall be deemed to have personal knowledge within the meaning of this paragraph if the judge, or the spouse of the judge, or a person within the third degree of relationship to either of them, or the spouse of such a person is to the judge’s knowledge likely to be a material witness in the proceeding.</p>
<p>(2) ...</p>
</blockquote>
