"I can tell you that judges sometimes took two or three years to hear criminal matters," Judge Newman said.

But, Judge Newman wrote, "we think it manifestly clear that a reasonable observer would question the judge's impartiality on the pending issue."

But yesterday, Judge Newman said the case should be reassigned randomly.

To some, however, an article by one judge deriding another and touting a third raised questions about Judge Newman's judgment.

Indeed, he said Judge Newman knew about it at the time.

He formed a law practice with Judge Newman and became a successful and moderately wealthy attorney.

Since 1983, Judge Newman has been a senior judge, serving periodically in various Federal courts.

"I think the feeling is that what we have to say has nothing to do with the merits of the decision," Judge Newman said.

"There are different theories of the beginning," Judge Newman said.

He calls Judge Newman "a brilliant legal scholar" who is "unusual, because at the same time, he can see the forest and the trees."