Cite as: 510 U. S. 540 (1994)
Kennedy, J., concurring in judgment
In matters of ethics, appearance and reality often converge as one. See Offutt v. United States, 348 U. S. 11, 14 (1954) ("[J]ustice must satisfy the appearance of justice"); Ex parte McCarthy, [1924] 1 K. B. 256, 259 (1923) ("[J]ustice should not only be done, but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done"). I do not see how the appearance of fairness and neutrality can obtain if the bare possibility of a fair hearing is all that the law requires. Cf. Marshall v. Jerrico, Inc., 446 U. S. 238, 242 (1980) (noting the importance of "preserv[ing] both the appearance and reality of fairness," which " 'generat[es] the feeling, so important to a popular government, that justice has been done' ") (quoting Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Comm. v. McGrath, 341 U. S. 123, 172 (1951) (Frankfurter, J., concurring)).
Although the source of an alleged disqualification may be relevant in determining whether there is a reasonable appearance of impartiality, that determination can be explained in a straightforward manner without resort to a nearly dispositive extrajudicial source factor. I would apply the statute as written to all charges of partiality, extrajudicial or otherwise, secure in my view that district and appellate judges possess the wisdom and good sense to distinguish substantial from insufficient allegations and that our rules, as so interpreted, are sufficient to correct the occasional departure.
II
The Court's effort to discern an "often dispositive" extra-judicial source factor in § 455(a) leads it to an additional error along the way. As noted above, the Court begins by explaining that the pejorative connotation of the term "bias or prejudice" demonstrates that the source of an alleged bias is significant under §§ 144 and 455(b)(1). The Court goes on to state that "it is unreasonable to interpret § 455(a) (unless the language requires it) as implicitly eliminating a limitation explicitly set forth in § 455(b)." Ante, at 553 (emphasis in original). That interpretation, the Court reasons, "would
565
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