Is it ironic that eventually an obscenity charge against a pornographic distributor is finally leveled?  Nah, it just another “free speech” kind of case right?

What happens when the judge presiding the court room happens to like people with farm animals?

Now seriously, I have to ask the legal community out there a question.  When a judge finds that it might be a “conflict of interest” in a case they have the right to recuse themselves from the presiding correct?  In this case the judge had made a “special” request to be the actual judge in this case.  That is rare for an appellate justice to do correct?  Is there an ethical question here or is it just me?