Special Letter on Recusal

Dear Ms. Dickey, Mr. Doersam, Ms. Garlock, Mr. Murray, Mr. Pinder, Mr. Sandberg, Mr. Tarantola, Mr. Vickers,

On April 8, three days after this court’s mandamus decision issued in No. 24-10266, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau supplemented the Certificates of Interested Persons that had earlier been filed in No. 24-10266 and No. 24-10248 to include “large credit card issuers.”

The Bureau stated that it “makes this representation in order that the judges of this court may evaluate possible disqualification or recusal.”

That same day, the court directed the parties to file expedited letter briefs addressing recusal obligations under the Code of Conduct for United States Judges.

Those letter briefs were received on April 11.

Judge Willett forwarded the court’s April 8 directive and the parties’ April 11 letter briefs to the Committee on Codes of Conduct of the Judicial Conference of the United States and requested an expedited opinion as to whether there is any legitimate basis for recusal or disqualification under the ethical canons that apply to federal judges.

The Committee has issued its opinion, unanimously concluding that nothing in the Code of Conduct requires recusal in either appeal.

Note: Judge Elrod did not participate in the preparation of the Committee’s opinion.

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