Rule 25.4.Procedure Upon a Motion for Disqualification

Once a recusal motion clears the screening step in Rule 25.3, someone has to pick the judge who will decide it, and Rule 25.4 answers that with a chain of rules keyed to circuit size. In a single-judge circuit, the district administrative judge makes the selection. In a two-judge circuit, the other judge hears the motion unless that judge is also disqualified. In a circuit with three or more judges, the circuit’s existing random, impartial case-assignment system handles it; if the circuit has no such system, the chief judge picks a replacement unless the chief judge is the one being challenged, in which case the most senior judge who is not also a target of the motion makes the call.

The rule keeps building fallback layers for harder cases. If the motion targets every active judge in the circuit, the district administrative judge reaches outside the circuit to find a judge. If the district administrative judge is the one challenged, the judge in the district who is senior in time of service steps in to run the selection instead — unless that senior judge is the administrative judge being challenged, in which case the next most senior judge in time of service takes over. And if an entire judicial administrative district — including its administrative judge — is disqualified, the matter goes to the administrative judge of an adjacent district, who appoints an outside judge to take over. If the recusal motion succeeds, this same selection chain picks the judge who will handle the rest of the case.