In re Greene, 9343.

Decision Date04 March 1947
Docket NumberNo. 9343.,9343.
Citation160 F.2d 517
PartiesIn re GREENE.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

Raymond Pace Alexander, of Philadelphia, Pa., for Greene.

Walter A. Gay, of Philadelphia, Pa., for Sims.

James L. Baxter, of Philadelphia, Pa., for Judge Welsh.

Before BIGGS, GOODRICH and KALODNER, Circuit Judges.

BIGGS, Circuit Judge.

The petitioner in the case at bar, S. L. Greene, the appellant at No. 9342, 3 Cir., 160 F.2d 512, moved for leave to file a petition for a writ of prohibition or a writ of mandamus against the Honorable George A. Welsh, one of the Judges of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and against the other Judges of that Court, to prohibit Judge Welsh from proceeding in the cause appealed from at our No. 9342, being Civil Action No. 6657 in the court below, Sims v. Greene. The petitioner asserts that Judge Welsh has demonstrated such bias and prejudice in the course of the proceeding as will disqualify him from continuing in the case. We are informed by counsel for the petitioner, and it is not denied, that the petitioner has filed in the court below in Civil Action No. 6657, an affidavit of personal bias and prejudice. See Section 21 of the Judicial Code, 28 U.S.C.A. § 25.

We issued a rule to show cause and an answer to the petition was filed by Judge Welsh who denied that he was biased or prejudiced. Hearing was had on February 14, following argument of the appeal at our No. 9342.

Assuming arguendo that a writ of prohibition or a writ of mandamus will lie against a district judge to compel him to disqualify himself in a case in which he has demonstrated personal bias and prejudice, and assuming also that the remedy given to the affected suitor by Section 21 of the Judicial Code is not exclusive, points upon which we do not pass, we find that the rule must be discharged because in our opinion the trial judge has not demonstrated personal bias or prejudice. What the petitioner has shown is the failure of the trial court to restrict the issues as required by the pleading. We doubt if out of the entire twelve hundred pages of argument, colloquy and testimony taken in the proceeding at No. 6657 in the court below that more than twenty-five pages were pertinent. Counsel for the petitioner was largely responsible for this state of the record. Counsel for the plaintiff was an offender to a much lesser degree. The record also demonstrates that the...

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7 cases
  • United States v. Gilboy, Crim. No. 12880.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Middle District of Pennsylvania
    • 9 May 1958
    ...Co., 3 Cir., 1956, 233 F.2d 371, 372, certiorari denied 352 U.S. 942, 77 S.Ct. 264, 1 L.Ed.2d 237. The judge has a duty, In re Greene, 3 Cir., 1947, 160 F.2d 517, 518, to examine the affidavit and certificate to determine whether or not they are the affidavit and certificate specified and r......
  • Green v. Murphy, 12616.
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit
    • 25 September 1958
    ...denied 1956, 352 U.S. 942, 77 S.Ct. 264, 1 L.Ed.2d 237, rehearing denied 1957, 352 U.S. 976, 77 S.Ct. 353, 1 L.Ed.2d 329; In re Greene, 3 Cir., 1947, 160 F.2d 517, 518; Voltmann v. United Fruit Co., 2 Cir., 1945, 147 F.2d 514, 517. Only what is set forth in the affidavit of bias and prejudi......
  • Dubnoff v. Goldstein
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit
    • 14 September 1967
    ...would not relieve the judge from passing on the sufficiency of grounds for disqualification alleged in an affidavit. In re Greene, 160 F.2d 517 (3rd Cir. 1947). Hence, the appeal from the District Court on the matter of "interest" must be dismissed. Since there was no right to appeal from t......
  • Sims v. Greene
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit
    • 4 March 1947
    ...was made returnable on February 10, 1947, and was set down to be heard on February 13. Our disposition of that case (In re Petition of Greene, 3 Cir., 160 F.2d 517) is dealt with in an opinion filed concurrently with 10 As indicated in earlier notes in this opinion the doctrine and rules of......
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