Is a lower court judge who is named as a respondent in an extraordinary writ proceeding brought in an appellate court to challenge an order rendered by a judge?

In general, of course, a lower court judge, even though named as a respondent, is a neutral party in an extraordinary writ proceeding brought in an appellate court to challenge an order rendered by that judge. As such, the lower court judge's duty of impartiality and neutrality makes inappropriate any effort by that judge to contest the writ petition. The rationale for, and scope of, this principle, were recently explicated by the court in Ng v. Superior Court (1997) 52 Cal.App.4th 1010, at pages 1016-1020, 61 Cal.Rptr.2d 49, and we need not repeat that discussion here.