Rule 16A.Motions for Recusal of Judges

Rule 16A doesn't try to define when a judge should step aside from a case; it points practitioners somewhere else instead. The rule requires that a motion seeking a judge's recusal be timely filed with the trial judge, and it directs that such motions be handled under the procedures already set out in the Uniform Rules of Circuit and County Court Practice and the Uniform Rules of Chancery Court Practice, depending on which court the case is in.

That makes Rule 16A a genuine local addition to Mississippi's civil rules, without a counterpart drawn from the federal rules that most of the rest of this rule set tracks. It was adopted effective April 4, 2002, and its function is narrow but important: it confirms that a recusal request goes first to the trial judge being asked to step aside, filed promptly, rather than skipping straight to an appellate court, and it keeps the detailed standards and timing requirements for recusal in the uniform rules that already governed the subject rather than duplicating them here.

Because the rule is a cross-reference rather than a self-contained standard, anyone bringing or responding to a recusal motion needs to look to the Uniform Rules of Circuit and County Court Practice or the Uniform Rules of Chancery Court Practice, whichever applies, for the actual grounds and procedural details that Rule 16A itself doesn't spell out.