They've stayed in touch over the years. Elliot's face went from pale to red. That's a conflict of interest. Judge Hargrove should have recused himself.
Should he? My father isn't a party to this case. He has no financial interest in the outcome. Under what standard would recusal be required?
The appearance of impropriety. Your father is a federal appellate judge. You're appearing before his law school friend. That creates an appearance of bias.
Camille smiled slightly. Funny. You didn't seem concerned about appearances when you were arguing that Judge Hargrove's discretionary decisions should be given deference when you were asking the appellate court to affirm without questioning his judgment. But now that you know my connection, suddenly there's an appearance problem.
Elliot opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again. Nothing came out. If you want to file a motion for recusal, Mr. Chandler, that's your right. But you'll have to explain to Judge Hargrove why you're suddenly concerned about conflicts after 6 months of litigation.
And you'll have to explain to the Court of Appeals why you cited a case without knowing who wrote it. She took the bar application back from his hands. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a 3-hour drive back to Durham. She walked away.
Professor Washington followed. Behind them, Elliot stood frozen in the hallway, Alana staring at him with wide eyes.
In the car, Professor Washington waited until they were on I40 before speaking. That was nuclear. He misrepresented my father's opinion to an appellate court. He deserved to know who wrote it.
He's going to file for recusal. I know. Which means the case goes back to Durham County for reassignment. I know that, too.
And you're okay with that? Camille thought about it. Mrs. Hughes's case would be delayed by the recusal, maybe months. But the alternative was letting Elliot Chandler misrepresent case law without consequences.
Letting Judge Hargrove preside over a case where he had an undisclosed relationship with her father. "I'm okay with it because now they can't claim I ambushed them." Elliot raised the conflict himself in front of witnesses in the courthouse hallway. "And you just happened to have your bar application with you."
"I brought it for exactly this reason." I knew he'd sight Booker eventually, and I knew he'd get it wrong because he's been getting it wrong all along. I just needed him to do it in a place where it mattered. Professor Washington smiled.
You've been planning this. I've been preparing for every possibility. They drove in silence for a while. Then Professor Washington asked the question that mattered.
What happens now? Now I file the civil rights complaint because if Elliot files for recusal, he admits that Judge Hargrove had a conflict all along. Admits that every ruling Hargrove made could have been influenced by his relationship with my father. Admits that the entire case was tainted from the start and that supports your argument that you were treated differently because of who you are.
Exactly. They dismissed me as just another student with no connections. Treated me accordingly, delayed my hearings, lost my filings, harassed me at security, made my client's case harder at every turn. But I do have connections and they should have checked before assuming I didn't.
Professor Washington was quiet for a moment. You're going to bury them. I'm going to hold them accountable. There's a difference.
Back at Duke, Camille went straight to her apartment, opened her laptop, pulled up the civil rights complaint she'd been drafting for months. 63 pages. Every incident documented, every statute violated, every remedy requested. She updated it with the new information.
Added a section about Elliot's misrepresentation of Booker v. North Carolina. Added exhibits, the video from oral arguments showing his statement about Judge Booker's concurrence, followed by law review articles analyzing the actual holding. Added another section about judicial bias, Judge Hargrove's friendship with Judge Booker, undisclosed for six months, his dismissive comments about her experience, his denial of findings of fact, his scheduling of hearings after evictions. By midnight, the complaint was 87 pages.
She saved it, backed it up to four different cloud services. Then she called Marcus Chen, even though it was late. Marcus, it's Camille. Elliot knows what about my father.
I told him today after oral arguments. Marcus was silent for a beat. Walk me through what happened. She explained the misrepresentation of the concurrence.
Elliot's condescension, the reveal, his immediate panic about recusal. When she finished, Marcus laughed. Actually laughed. You played him perfectly.
I didn't play anyone. I just corrected his misrepresentation of case law. Right. And you just happen to have your bar application showing Judge Booker as your father ready to hand him.
I believe in being prepared. Camille, this is brilliant. If he files for recusal, he admits the conflict. If he doesn't file, he's stuck with a record where he misrepresented a federal judge's opinion.
A federal judge who happens to be opposing counsel's father. Either way, he loses. So, we file the complaint now. No, we wait for his next move.
If he files for recusal, we include that in the complaint as evidence of the systemic bias you faced. If he doesn't file, we file anyway and note that he failed to move for recusal even after learning of the conflict. Either way, we win. How long do we wait?
72 hours. He'll file within 3 days or not at all. Marcus was right. 48 hours later, Camille received notice of a new motion filed in Durham County Superior Court.
Motion for recusal of Judge Maxwell Hargrove respondent moves for recusal of Judge Maxwell Hargrove under 28 USC Separ 455 B5 if upon information recently disclosed opposing counsel Camille Booker is the daughter of Fourth Circuit Judge Roland Booker. Judge Hargrove and Judge Booker attended Duke Law School together, class of 1987, and maintain a social and professional relationship. This creates an appearance of bias requiring recusal under the code of judicial conduct. Additionally, the undersigned inadvertently cited Booker v. North Carolina during appellate oral arguments without knowledge of opposing counsel's relationship to the author.
This creates a further appearance of impropriety that warrants recusal and reassignment to avoid any perception of unfairness. Camille read it three times. Elliot had done exactly what she'd expected, admitted the conflict, admitted his mistake, gave her everything she needed. She called Marcus.
He filed. I know. I got copied on it. You ready to file the big one?
More than ready. Then let's do this. I'll review your complaint tonight. We file tomorrow morning.
That night, Camille made the final edits. Added Elliot's recusal motion as exhibit A. Added the transcript from oral arguments as exhibit B. Added Judge Hargrove's order denying her request for findings of fact as exhibit C.