State ex rel. Attorney Gen. v. Martin
Citation | 256 P. 681,125 Okla. 24,1927 OK 147 |
Decision Date | 21 May 1927 |
Docket Number | Case Number: 18080 |
Parties | STATE ex rel. ATTORNEY GENERAL v. MARTIN. |
Court | Oklahoma Supreme Court |
¶0 1. Judges--Constitutional and Statutory Provisions--Disqualification of Supreme Court Justices for Prejudice.
The Constitution of Oklahoma, article 2, section 6, provides:
"Right and Justice shall be administered without sale, denial, delay, or prejudice."
And section 2629, Oklahoma Compiled Statutes, provides:
"No judge of any court of record shall sit in any cause or proceeding in which he may be interested, or in the result of which he may be interested * * * or in which is called in question the validity of any judgment or proceeding in which he was of counsel or interested, * * * provided that the disqualifications herein imposed shall not exclude the disqualifications at common law."
And section 2632, Oklahoma Compiled Statutes, provides:
"* * * The same disqualification shall apply to the members of the Supreme Court and the Criminal Court of Appeals as to other courts of record."
Under the Constitution and laws of this state, this court has the power and authority, when the question is properly presented, to disqualify any one or more of its members from participating in the trial or hearing of any cause pending in the court. When it is made to appear to the satisfaction of the court that certain Justices are in any way, from any cause, biased or prejudiced against one of the parties litigant to such an extent that said-party might not have a fair, unbiased, and impartial hearing in said cause before said Justices, it is the duty of the court to declare such disqualifications.
2. Same--Right to Question Disqualification.
It does not always rest with the judge alone whose right to sit is questioned to say whether he is or is not disqualified. In cases where there is a doubt or question, it should be referred to the decision of the court.
3. Same--Contempt as "Cause or Proceeding" Pending Before Court.
Contempt is a "cause or proceeding" sufficiently within the meaning of the language of the provisions of the Oklahoma statutes as to be classified as a matter pending before the court.
4. Same--Supreme Court Justices Held Disqualified in Contempt Proceeding.
From the record in this case, and the undisputed facts appearing herein, the disqualifications of the judges are shown. (For facts see opinion.) Contempt proceeding in Supreme Court against H. B. Martin by the State on the relation of the Attorney General. Mandamus by respondent against Justices J. W. Clark and Fletcher Riley, directing them to certify their disqualifications. Prayer granted.
(Seven of the nine Justices of the Supreme Court having voluntarily certified their disqualifications in the contempt proceeding, the following were duly appointed and qualified as Special Justices: W. E. Utterback, H. D. Henry, Dan Huett, A. Scott Thompson, Kelly Brown, A. R. Swank, and W. N. Lewis.)
A petition for a writ of mandamus was filed in this court by counsel for respondent, H. B. Martin, which petition is as follows:
I.
"That on the 8th day of January, 1927, there was filed in this court an information on the relation of the Attorney General of the state of Oklahoma, as relator, versus H. B. Martin, respondent, numbered upon the docket of this court 18080, and upon said information a citation for contempt of court was duly issued and served upon this petitioner and movant. That said information and said citation are and remain on file in the office of the clerk of this court, and are made a part of this motion by reference, the same as if herein in full set out.
II.
"Movant further alleges and says that in said cause No. 18080 the said H. B. Martin, respondent therein, and movant herein, filed on the 13th day of January, 1927, his verified motion and request, requesting certain of the Justices of this honorable court, including the Justices above named, as respondents herein, to certify upon the journal of this court their disqualification, respectively, to sit as Justices upon the trial of said cause. That said motion and request was in writing, and is and remains in the office of the clerk of this honorable court, and that the same is hereby made a part of this motion by reference, the same as if herein in full set out.
III.
"Your movant further alleges and states that on the presentation of the said motion requesting certain Justices of the Supreme Court to certify their disqualification in said cause No. 18080, all the justices of the Supreme Court of the state of Oklahoma certified their disqualification in said cause, except the respondents above named, and that said respondents made an order, refusing to certify their disqualification in said cause, and stating certain reasons for such refusal, which said order is and remains on file and of record in cause No. 18080 in this court, in writing, and which said order is made a part of this motion by reference, the same as if herein in full set out.
IV.
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