—have employed the "reasoned choice" standard for guilty pleas, every other circuit that has considered the issue has determined that the competency standard for pleading guilty is identical to the competency standard for standing trial.

To be disqualifying, the judge's alleged bias must stem from an extra-judicial source and result in an opinion on the merits on some basis other than what the judge learned from his participation in the case; in other words, the prejudice must be personal rather than judicial.

For example, in a study of the prosecutor's decision to seek the death penalty, the authors assert that where the death penalty was sought in 51 of 148 white victim cases and in 6 of 55 black victim cases, "defendants who were charged with killing whites were 3.2 times more likely to have prosecutors seek the death penalty than those charged with killing blacks."

The fact that my interest in and knowledge about predictive coding in general overlaps with issues in this case is not a basis for recusal.

Although the Supreme Court has never explicitly named a standard for competence to waive constitutional rights, other courts have settled on the Dusky standard as the appropriate standard in that context as well

In order to show incompetence to plead guilty, a defendant must show "that his mental faculties were so impaired... when he pleaded guilty that he was incapable of full understanding and appreciation of the charges against him, of comprehending his constitutional rights and of realizing the consequences of his plea."

—that any particular defendant's sentence resulted from this discrimination. The crime may have been so egregious that the defendant would have been sentenced to death regardless of race. 66 Although these causation issues are important, it is unclear how much, if any, importance they should be given. The four-stage constitutional model seeks to provide a meaningful …

"While [defendant's] level of awareness and comprehension might have been high enough to render him competent to stand trial, it may not have been high enough to allow him to validly waive his constitutional right to a trial by jury 106

For purposes of disqualification under § 455 (b)(1), bias or prejudice must stem from an extrajudicial source.

[CITATION] Death Sentencing Patterns: A Tragic Perspective on Capital Punishment

[CITATION] Ethical Considerations Relating to the Representation of Criminal Defendants …

[CITATION] Perspective on Capital Punishment