Prewitt v. McDaniel
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Prewitt v. McDaniel
Opinion
Case: 25-60225 Document: 36-1 Page: 1 Date Filed: 11/11/2025
United States Court of Appeals
for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals
Fifth Circuit
____________ FILED
November 11, 2025
25-60225 Lyle W. Cayce
____________ Clerk
George Dunbar Prewitt, Jr.,
Plaintiff—Appellant,
versus
James Kent McDaniel,
Defendant—Appellee.
______________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Mississippi
USDC No. 3:23-CV-3015
______________________________
Before Wiener, Willett, and Wilson, Circuit Judges.
Per Curiam: *
Pro se Plaintiff-Appellant George Dunbar Prewitt, Jr. appeals the
district court’s denial of his claims against County Court Judge James Kent
McDaniel arising from a speeding-ticket conviction and its denial of his
motion to disqualify the district judge. Prewitt now also moves to disqualify
certain Fifth Circuit judges. We affirm the judgment of the district court and
deny Prewitt’s motion.
_____________________
*
This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.
Case: 25-60225 Document: 36-1 Page: 2 Date Filed: 11/11/2025
No. 25-60225
I.
In May 2019, George Dunbar Prewitt, Jr. received a speeding ticket
for driving 78 mph in a 65 mph zone in Yazoo County, Mississippi. After
being found guilty in Yazoo County Justice Court, Prewitt appealed the
conviction to the County Court of Yazoo County. For administrative
reasons, the Chief Justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court appointed Judge
James Kent McDaniel, then a judge on the County Court of Rankin County,
Mississippi, to preside over Prewitt’s appeal by trial de novo. On October 19,
2023, Judge McDaniel conducted that trial, again finding Prewitt guilty and
ordering him to pay a $179.50 fine.
On October 18, 2023, the day before Prewitt’s speeding-ticket appeal
was heard, however, Prewitt filed a federal lawsuit against Judge McDaniel,
asserting that his original speeding-ticket proceeding (the one in Yazoo
County Justice Court, rather than the one presided over by Judge McDaniel
in Yazoo County Court) violated his constitutional rights. 1 Specifically,
Prewitt argued that the trial was held without a jury and in a county where
the offense did not occur. He also used this as an opportunity to challenge
the legitimacy of the 1890 Mississippi Constitution. He then moved to
disqualify the federal district judge, based on his belief that an alleged
“progeny of American enslavers” could not “fairly adjudicate” his case
because Prewitt is “a descendant of American slaves.”
The district court dismissed Prewitt’s complaint, ruling that he failed
to establish an injury in fact and thus lacked standing under Article III. The
court also denied Prewitt’s motion to disqualify the district judge. On appeal,
_____________________
1
The complaint names Judge McDaniel but does not explain why Prewitt chose to
sue him in particular.
2
Case: 25-60225 Document: 36-1 Page: 3 Date Filed: 11/11/2025
No. 25-60225
Prewitt challenges these rulings. He separately moves to disqualify certain
Fifth Circuit judges.
II.
“We review a district court’s decision on a Rule 12(b)(6) motion de
novo, accepting all well-pleaded facts as true and viewing those facts in the
light most favorable to the plaintiff.” Ferguson v. Bank of New York Mellon
Corp., 802 F.3d 777, 780(5th Cir. 2015) (citation modified) (quoting Stokes v. Gann,498 F.3d 483, 484
(5th Cir. 2007)).
A recusal motion under 28 U.S.C. § 455is committed to the sound discretion of the district judge. Chitimacha Tribe of La. v. Harry L. L. Co.,690 F.2d 1157, 1166
(5th Cir. 1982). “In reviewing a district court’s denial of a motion to recuse, ‘we ask only whether [the judge] has abused that discretion.’” Matter of Billedeaux,972 F.2d 104, 106
(5th Cir. 1992) (quoting Chitimacha Tribe,690 F.2d at 1166
).
III.
A.
Federal courts are not “publicly funded forums for the ventilation of
public grievances.” Valley Forge Christian Coll. v. Ams. United for Separation
of Church & State, Inc., 454 U.S. 464, 473(1982). A plaintiff must have standing to proceed in federal court.Id.
Article III of the United States Constitution requires an actual case or controversy giving the court subject matter jurisdiction. Seeid.
To establish Article III standing, a plaintiff must prove three things: (1) an injury in fact; (2) a traceable causal connection; and (3) redressability. Lujan v. Defs. of Wildlife,504 U.S. 555
, 560–61 (1992). “Abstract injury is not enough.” City of Los Angeles v. Lyons,461 U.S. 95, 101
(1983). Rather, the “plaintiff must show that he has sustained or is
immediately in danger of sustaining some direct injury as the result of the
3
Case: 25-60225 Document: 36-1 Page: 4 Date Filed: 11/11/2025
No. 25-60225
challenged . . . conduct and the injury or threat of injury must be both real
and immediate, not conjectural or hypothetical.” Id. at 101–02 (internal
quotation marks omitted).
Prewitt’s constitutional claims fail at every turn. His speeding ticket
was a petty offense carrying a maximum penalty of six months, so he had no
right to a jury trial under either the Sixth Amendment or Article III. See
Blanton v. City of N. Las Vegas, 489 U.S. 538, 541(1989) (“It has long been settled that there is a category of petty crimes or offenses which is not subject to the Sixth Amendment jury trial provision.”) (quotation omitted); Landry v. Hoepfner,840 F.2d 1201
, 1205 n.10 (5th Cir. 1988) (“[T]here is no
distinction between the jury trial provisions of Article III, Section 2, and the
Sixth Amendment with respect to the grade or character of offense which
gives rise to entitlement to a jury.”). Because no jury trial right attached, the
Sixth Amendment’s venue clause—requiring trial in the “State and district
wherein the crime shall have been committed”—is likewise inapplicable.
Prewitt’s contention that the proceeding occurred in the wrong county
therefore raises no constitutional concern.
Nor does Prewitt plausibly allege a violation of his right to a public
trial. His conclusory assertion that others were asked to wait in the lobby
while trial occurred behind closed doors—without any indication of duration,
justification, or resulting harm—does not establish a Sixth Amendment
deprivation. See United States v. Lipscomb, 539 F.3d 32, 42–43 (1st Cir. 2008) (bare assertion that the courtroom was temporarily locked, supported only by a short, unsworn, handwritten note, was insufficient to show deprivation of defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to public trial), cert. denied,555 U.S. 1124
(2009). In sum, Prewitt’s bare allegations fall well short of showing any
concrete injury or constitutional violation. Accordingly, the district court
was correct to dismiss Prewitt’s complaint.
4
Case: 25-60225 Document: 36-1 Page: 5 Date Filed: 11/11/2025
No. 25-60225
Prewitt’s contention that the 1890 Mississippi Constitution is
“illegal” is likewise without merit. The United States Supreme Court has
repeatedly adjudicated disputes involving the Mississippi Constitution and
has never suggested that its manner of adoption renders it illegitimate. See,
e.g., Yazoo & M.V.R. Co. v. Adams, 180 U.S. 1(1901); Mobile, Jackson & Kansas City R. Co. v. Turnipseed,219 U.S. 35
(1910); Mississippi v. Arkansas,415 U.S. 289
(1974). Prewitt fails to show otherwise.
B.
To obtain recusal under 28 U.S.C. § 455, “[t]he movant must show that, if a reasonable man knew of all the circumstances, he would harbor doubts about the judge’s impartiality.” Chitimacha Tribe,690 F.2d at 1165
. “A ‘remote, contingent, or speculative’ interest is not one ‘which reasonably brings into question a judge’s partiality.’” Matter of Billedeaux,972 F.2d at 106
(quoting In re Drexel Burnham Lambert, Inc.,861 F.2d 1307
, 1313 (2d Cir. 1988), cert. denied,490 U.S. 1102
(1989)). Disagreement with a court’s prior decisions is not a proper basis to seek recusal. See Wiley v. Dep’t of Energy, No. CV 21-933,2021 WL 2853110
, at *4 (E.D. La. July 8, 2021). “[A] federal judge has a duty to sit where not disqualified which is equally as strong as the duty to not sit where disqualified.” Laird v. Tatum,409 U.S. 824, 837
(1972).
The court finds no abuse of discretion in the district court’s denial of
Prewitt’s recusal motion. Prewitt’s allegations of bias, based on the judge’s
alma mater and speculative claims about his ancestry, rest on conjecture, not
fact. And dissatisfaction with a judge’s prior rulings provides no basis for
disqualification. Nor may a litigant dictate the assignment of a judge. 2 The
district court properly rejected these meritless arguments.
_____________________
2
Prewitt mistakenly believes that he can dictate the qualities of the judge assigned
to his case.
5
Case: 25-60225 Document: 36-1 Page: 6 Date Filed: 11/11/2025
No. 25-60225
Prewitt also moves to disqualify certain Fifth Circuit judges. 3 His
motion lacks any valid basis. Under 28 U.S.C. § 455, recusal is required only
where a judge’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned based on
objective facts, not on conjecture or broad sociopolitical criteria. Prewitt
offers none. His proposed disqualifications—encompassing any judge with
ancestral ties to slavery, prior rulings with which he disagrees, or membership
in unspecified organizations—are speculative, overbroad, and unrelated to
any personal bias in this case. Accordingly, the court finds no reasonable
basis for recusal.
IV.
For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the federal district court is
AFFIRMED. Prewitt’s motion to disqualify certain Fifth Circuit judges is
DENIED.
_____________________
3
Specifically, Prewitt wishes to disqualify any judge “(a) whose family tree history
indicates ties with American Slavery in any respect, (b) judicial decisions indicate a
possibility enmity, or reticence, to enforce the constitutional guarantees of equality of all,
(c) who has participated, at any time, in any activity that seeks to humiliate or ostracize the
American Slaves and the descendants whether in ‘blackface’ or some similar behavior, and
(d) who has been, or is now, a member of any organization that seeks to defund any
governmental benefit designed to benefit the descendants of American Slaves, including
federal, state, and private programs that are aimed at ameliorating the lasting effects of
American Slavery.”
6
Reference
- Status
- Unpublished