Judge Lynn Hughes of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas (Courtesy photo)

Federal prosecutors in Texas allege that U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes retaliated against a woman prosecutor by kicking her out of his courtroom and barring her from representing the government in a jury trial this week.

Seeking to recuse the judge, assistant U.S. Attorney Tina Ansari claimed Hughes was angry that she won an appeal in a previous criminal case last summer after alleging that he made sexist comments against her when the matter was at the trial court level.

On Tuesday, Hughes denied the motion to recuse in the current case, after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit rejected an emergency motion for a writ of mandamus over the weekend.

The previous case that set the conflict in motion was USA v. Swenson, a 2017 criminal matter. In court, Hughes said “It was a lot simpler when you guys wore dark suits, white shirts and navy ties,” in February 2017. Hughes also excoriated Ansari for discovery mistakes in Swenson, which he dismissed.

After the Fifth Circuit called Hughes' comment “demeaning, inappropriate, and beneath the dignity of a federal judge” in its July 2018 opinion that reversed the Swenson dismissal, prosecutors say he was upset—and took it out on Ansari.

“This court's view is not merely a disagreement with the United States' litigation position in Swenson but is also an expression of antagonism so deeply rooted and pervasive as to render this court biased and unable to render a fair judgment in this case,” alleged a Jan. 19 motion to recuse Hughes from a new case, USA v. Rodriguez.

Reached by phone Thursday, Hughes said the government's motion this week was “entirely a rehash of claims the assistant made, which were the product of putting three sentences of the record together and claiming they were addressed to her.” The judge declined further comment about specific allegations in the motion to recuse.

The motion says that, earlier this month, Ansari appeared before Hughes for the first time since the Fifth Circuit's opinion. During a Jan. 14 pretrial hearing in Rodriguez, Hughes took the bench and told Ansari she was excused—but didn't explain why. Hughes kicked her out of the courtroom again during a Jan. 18 pretrial hearing, and he indicated he would not let her participate in the case. U.S. Attorney Ryan Patrick was in the courtroom at the time, and he approached the bench to ask Hughes why he was banning Ansari.

“This court indicated it was displeased with the Fifth Circuit's opinion in Swenson and that the opinion resulted from lies and misrepresentations of the record,” the motion alleged.

Hughes, according to the U.S. attorney's motion, said his comments weren't directed at Ansari but at others in the room. He felt the U.S. Attorney's Office presented his comments in a misleading way in its appeal, making it look like he was talking to Ansari.

On Jan. 19, the same day prosecutors filed the motion to recuse Hughes, they also filed an emergency motion for a writ of mandamus with the Fifth Circuit. Making much the same allegations as the motion to recuse, the emergency motion asked the appellate court to stay the Jan. 22 Rodriguez trial and recuse Hughes from the case.

The Fifth Circuit refused to accept the motion.

Hughes denied the motion to recuse on Jan. 22, and the Rodriguez case moved forward to a jury trial from Jan. 22 to 23. The jury hasn't yet returned its verdict.

Ansari didn't return a call or email seeking comment. Angela Dodge, spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Ryan Patrick's office in the Southern District of Texas in Houston, also didn't return a call.

Angela Morris is a freelance reporter. Follow her on Twitter: @AMorrisReports.