“If judges are like umpires, then they should be treated like umpires, not
team owners, team fans or players.”
Raskin notes that:
“At his Senate confirmation hearing, Chief Justice Roberts assured America
that ‘Judges are like umpires.'”
“But professional baseball would never allow an umpire to continue to
officiate the World Series after learning that the pennant of one of the
two teams competing was flying in the front yard of the umpire’s home. Nor
would an umpire be allowed to call balls and strikes in a World Series game
after the umpire’s wife tried to get the official score of a prior game in
the series overthrown and canceled out to benefit the losing team. If
judges are like umpires, then they should be treated like umpires, not team
owners, team fans or players.”
Read the full article below.
Congressman Jamie Raskin writes in a New York Times op-ed
that *Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas can be forced to recuse
themselves* from cases involving Jan. 6 and Trump.
A Constitutional expert, Raskin makes clear that the Constitution’s Due
Process clause can be invoked to require Alito and Thomas recuse themselves
after their spouses hung insurrectionist flags and collaborated with
insurrectionists.
*But it will only happen if Attorney General Merrick Garland initiates the
process.* Time is running out before Court decisions related to January 6
are announced.
1. SIGN THE PETITION: Tell Merrick Garland to formally insist that the 7
other Supreme Court justices require that Justices Alito and Thomas recuse
themselves from cases involving January 6 and Trump.
2. Call the Department of Justice and leave a voicemail for Merrick
Garland now. (We’ll give you the phone number and a script.)
3. Chip in $3 to Jamie Raskin’s re-election campaign for continuing his
ongoing heroic work to save our democracy.
In Jamie’s words:
“The Justice Department and Attorney General Merrick Garland can invoke two
powerful textual authorities for this motion: the Constitution of the
United States, specifically the due process clause, and the federal statute
mandating judicial disqualification for questionable impartiality, 28
U.S.C. Section 455. The Constitution has come into play in several recent
Supreme Court decisions striking down rulings by stubborn judges in lower
courts whose political impartiality has been reasonably questioned but who
threw caution to the wind to hear a case anyway…
“The recusal statute, if triggered, is not a friendly suggestion. It is
Congress’s command, binding on the justices, just as the due process clause
is. The Supreme Court cannot disregard this law just because it directly
affects one or two of its justices. Ignoring it would trespass on the
constitutional separation of powers because the justices would essentially
be saying that they have the power to override a congressional command.
“When the arguments are properly before the court, Chief Justice John
Roberts and Associate Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Ketanji
Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh and Sonia Sotomayor will have
both a constitutional obligation and a statutory obligation to enforce
recusal standards.”
Raskin notes that:
“At his Senate confirmation hearing, Chief Justice Roberts assured America
that ‘Judges are like umpires.'”
“But professional baseball would never allow an umpire to continue to
officiate the World Series after learning that the pennant of one of the
two teams competing was flying in the front yard of the umpire’s home. Nor
would an umpire be allowed to call balls and strikes in a World Series game
after the umpire’s wife tried to get the official score of a prior game in
the series overthrown and canceled out to benefit the losing team. If
judges are like umpires, then they should be treated like umpires, not team
owners, team fans or players.”
*Take urgent action today. The Supreme Court could rule on giving Trump
immunity for Jan. 6 at any moment.*
1. SIGN THE PETITION telling Merrick Garland to insist that the other 7
justices require Alito and Thomas to recuse themselves from cases involving
January 6 and Trump.
2. Call the Department of Justice.
3. Chip in $3 to Jamie Raskin’s re-election campaign. We need this
brilliant constitutional scholar in Congress fighting to save our democracy!
Thanks for being a bold progressive.
