The former president has asked the Supreme Court to overturn a ruling in Colorado that he is ineligible to appear on the state primary ballot because of his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
A group of House Democrats on Thursday called on conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from a case involving former President Donald Trump’s eligibility to appear on Colorado’s Republican primary ballot.
Trump on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to overturn a Colorado court ruling last month that disqualified him from appearing on the ballot over his conduct leading up to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The former president’s appeal came after the state’s Republican Party filed its own appeal of the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision. The state court put its ruling on hold to allow for appeals, meaning Trump could remain on the ballot pending U.S. Supreme Court action.
A group of House Democrats, led by Rep. Hank Johnson, of Georgia, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee’s courts subcommittee, demanded that Thomas recuse himself from the case in a letter dated Thursday.
You completely misunderstand how recusal works. You don’t recuse yourself because it’s been proven you’ve been taking bribes. You get removed and possibly jailed for that. You recuse yourself from a given trial to avoid the appearance of having a non-neutral position on the case because a reasonable person might believe you may have influenced or associations that could make your ruling look like something other than impartial.
Recusal isn’t stepping down from the bench. It’s just saying that the person in question has a level of involvement in a case that they’re concerned that they may give off the appearance of having a prejudiced opinion.
Thomas is one of the dirtiest judges in the history of the Supreme Court. He has no regard for the history of the institution. He’s driven by power and power alone. He’s not going to step down despite the records of payments received and hidden, and he’s likely not going to recuse himself over the appearance of impropriety because he’s completely unethical.