Congress, Constitutional Law, Supreme Court

“What Do We Do if He Doesn’t Recuse Himself?” Rep. Raskin Raises Eyebrows with CNN Interview on Justice Thomas

Rep. Jamie Raskin raised eyebrows on Sunday with a CNN interview where he said that there may have to be action taken if Justice Clarence Thomas does not recuse himself from pending appeals over the disqualification of Donald Trump from the Colorado and Maine ballots. Not only is there a weak basis for demanding such recusal, the suggestion of some type of response or retaliation raises ongoing concerns over efforts to influence or intimidate justices.

CNN host Dana Bash asked Raskin, a former law professor, whether Thomas or any of the judges appointed by the former president should recuse themselves. Raskin responded that “anybody looking at this in any kind of dispassionate, reasonable way would say, if your wife was involved in the ‘Big Lie’ and claiming that Donald Trump had actually won the presidential election and been agitating for that and participating in the events leading up to January 6, that you shouldn’t be participating in (the rulings).”

I, for one, disagree. Under this theory, Thomas would have to recuse himself from any election or Trump related case because of his wife’s advocacy. Justices on both the left and right have long applied a far more narrow view of recusal.

However, Raskin then stated: “He absolutely should recuse himself. The question is, what do we do if he doesn’t recuse himself?”

The reference to some response from Congress or the public was left unexplained. In the past, Democrats have been criticized for fueling the attacks or targeting of conservative justices.

In fairness to Raskin, I do not believe that he is an advocate for violence. He could be referring to the public voting against Trump. I wish, however, that his fealty to the constitution would extend to opposing this pernicious and dangerous theory. Other leading Democrats in Congress have done so.

Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer was widely criticized (including by Chief Justice John Roberts) when he went in front of the Supreme Court to publicly declare “I want to tell you, Gorsuch. I want to tell you, Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price! You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”

There is nothing Congress can do to force Thomas off the appeal. The concern is that Raskin is encouraging new targeting of justices at their homes by protesters.

The interview had other curious elements. Raskin made a rather anemic effort to portray the removal of someone from the ballot as weirdly democratic under the theory that Trump picked himself for disqualification: “If you think about it, of all of the forms of disqualification that we have, the one that disqualifies people for engaging in insurrection is the most democratic because it’s the one where people choose themselves to be disqualified.”

That is akin to treating every criminal charge as an act of self-selection and consent by the accused.

Raskin also stated that all of the justices on the left and right “call themselves textualist and originalists.” That is not true in the sense of originalism as a school of constitutional interpretation. Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson do not follow an originalist approach but rather a more flexible living constitutional approach.

Moreover, many of us do not believe that the text or original intent of the 14th Amendment support this anti-democratic theory.

Here is the interview: Raskin segment

164 thoughts on ““What Do We Do if He Doesn’t Recuse Himself?” Rep. Raskin Raises Eyebrows with CNN Interview on Justice Thomas”

  1. I encountered a political analysis that I thought was interesting yesterday that tried to explain polling – both the Biden vs. Trump polls and the Trump vs. other republican polls.

    That analysis suggested that though there are many things going on simultaneously – the war, the economy, the border that are all favoring Trump,

    That a major factor is that voters are not chosing between Trump and Biden or Trump and DeSantis.

    But between Trump and a totalitarian state. That for many this election is not a choice between Trump and Biden in the general or Trump and Halley in the primaries.

    It is about whether we allow the totalitarian state to grow or whether we reign it in.

    When Trump says in his rally’s that they are attacking him to get to you – that lots of people are concerned about that.

    We have had ample evidence in the past 3 years of DOJ/FBI targeting ordinary americans.
    Whether it is the efforts to expand the IRS – while it requires very little logical ability to grasp that 80+K more IRS agents are not being hired to go after Bezos and Gates, even without that analysis most people have an intuitive sense the IRS will inevitably come after them.
    I would further note that the bulk of IRS agents are not targeting the rich or the middle class – but the poor. People who have accidentally or deliberately gotten more federal assistance then they are entitled under rules that require an army of lawyers to understand.

    Or the efforts to label people seeking to reign in lunacy at their school boards as domestic terrorists,
    Or to abuse federal laws to target pro-life protestors, or to open domestic terrorism investigations of devout Catholics – a group that has no actual links at all to any violence in this countries history.

    Even the targeting of J6 protestors has terrified large numbers of people.

    Raskin is among the leaders of those who are explicitly sending out the message – Do not protest against democrats or we will send you to jail.

    But even a growing number of liberals are increasingly disturbed and understand that they too could be the targets if the winds shifted.

    Communism is the most evil ideology ever to have existed. If you adhere to communism – no one should listen to you, no one should hire you.
    The track record of communists is WORSE than Nazi’s.

    Even so – you are free to speak, to run for political office. Some of the most authoritarian moments in our history involve the government targeting communists or even merely those in proximity to communists or defending the rights of communists.

    The aparatus of government can be turned agains the right or the left – when we allow its use to become driven politically – as it unarguably is.

    Many of us beleive there is a connection between Biden and the targeting of Trump and the targeting of americans of different politics.
    If proven that would warrant impeachment.

    But that link does not have to be proven. The immoral, illegal and unconstittuional efforts to use government to go after political enemies is a fact.
    What is speculation is whether it is organic to the FBI and DOJ and …. or whether it is driven by Joe Biden.

    With respect to voting – IT DOES NOT MATTER.
    Nor does it matter whether you like Trump or not.

    EB claimed Trump had a ceiling – that likely was true int he past – though I would point out that ceiling is more than high enough to beat Biden if Democrats are not happy with Biden.

    Regardless, it is not the past. Trump’s ceiling only exists if disgust with the alternative is lower. Increasingly it is not.

    Increasingly people are able to answer “If you put a gun to my head – I will vote for Trump” because increasingly in one form or another there is a gun to their head.

    The anti-authoritarian vote is not the sole reason for Trump’s lead – not over Biden, not over GOP rivals.
    But it is a factor, and in election where 1 pct is the difference between a landslide and a loss – it is a big deal.

  2. “He absolutely should recuse himself. The question is, what do we do if he doesn’t recuse himself?”
    Uh, yes, I would like to hear exactly what Rep. Raskin was suggesting, implying, hinting to.

    1. Do comment again when you obtain 700 million soldiers, and serious and formidable status.

      1. You follow the Biden logic. Guns cant get the better of F-15’s? While dementia Joe has never had much logic. Now he has none. But the critical road bump is in getting pilots to kill their own family in mass.

  4. Raskin’s comments are a call for violance. How is this acceptable?
    Based on his perspective, every judge should recuse given that their spouse may influence thier judgement. Raskin should resign, since his judgment is clouded and biased by his spouse, and who knows that she thinks.

  6. Thomas should be impeached for the millions of dollars he took in bribes. Now well documented. Unlike the possible, maybe, sorta, we think, money to Biden. We know Thomas took expense gifts in the form of transportation and vacations. He is a blight on the Supreme Court.

    1. A third party audit showed Thomas did nothing wrong. It is well documented.

    2. Time to loosen up the tin foil. Thomas has not taken any bribes at all. There has not even been an attempt to influence his decisions.

      Thomas has received Perqs, like all supreme court justices -= including Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

      Thomas has actually been more careful than the rest to limit the instances in which those perqs can be perceived to impact his objectivity.

      The amount of those perqs is NOT millions of dollars.
      And there is not a single case that he has participated in where those providing the perqs have benefited from his decisions.

  7. Since it’s reasonable to think that Thomas shouldn’t recuse himself, the real question is… “What should we do WHEN he doesn’t recuse himself?”

  8. jamie raskin, democrat, multimillionaire, takoma park, is EXACTLY who you think he is.

    I am disappointed he is distracting himself with this nonsense when he is trying to get his sponsored bills like: HR4960 Chyna Gibson Stop the Transgender Murder Epidemic Act of 2023, HR5041 Better CARE for Animals Act of 2023 Better Collaboration, Accountability, and Regulatory Enforcement for Animals Act of 2023 A BILL To amend the Animal Welfare Act to expand and improve the enforcement capabilities of the Attorney General, and for other purposes (Let’s get Garland working on something apolitical, right??), HR5023 PLANT Act Peas, Legumes, And Nuts Today Act (more starch/carbs please), HR4241 Horse Transportation Safety Act of 2023, and HR4178 Quiet Communities Act of 2023 (aka UPenn water buffalo act), and literally hundreds of others – of course all are in committee, none have ever passed.

  9. While Raskin is Wrong – close to always, about close to everything. I do not have any problem with his remarks.

    Absolutely some deranged person could be motivated by them to do something despicable.

    But contra the left that is not and never has been the standard for unprotected speech.

    Schumer’s remarks were even worse, as were Waters regarding Floyd.

    They were ALL free speech – just as Trump’s remarks on J6 or all the others the left rants about are free speech.

    We provide incredibly broad protection to speech – especially political speech. That is more than a value it is a principle.
    And it is more than a principle. As we are seeing when we attempt to use government to silence people for speech – things do not work.
    Chaos and violence ensure.

    It is not Raskins implied threats to Thomas that are the real danger, it is the lawlessness that results from arbitrary or politically motivated censorship.

    So call Raskin the idiot that he is. But lets stop pretending that he can or should be silenced.

    And then understand that applies not just to democrats but also to republicans and to Trump.

  10. It’s time for Rep. Raskin to put his head in an oven since it will muffle his comments. I don’t ever rec suicide but this gentleman constantly reiterates the fact that he is certifiably brain dead. Must of his words come almost definitely from his midbrain which is a real trick since most humans need the speech centers of the cerebrum to really talk but obviously his speech never enters the logic center much less a normal speech center. His speech is more in the realm of a reflex so it never enters the cerebrum where complex thought and understanding reign. So spinal cord or midbrain it must be.
    A salamander shows more logic.

    1. I live in Maryland and I can assure you that there is nothing funny about Raskin. He is a genuine threat to our freedoms.

  14. This is one of the cases that will resurrect the call to add 4 more Justices to the SCOTUS. It was only 2-3 years ago that the Democrats were suggesting that the SCOTUS was in “need” of “reform”. Here is an example, from December 2021:

    https://time.com/6127193/supreme-court-reform-expansion/

    This theory be a part of the Democrats’ talking points as we close in on the 2024 election. They operate in short talking points that can resonate with lazy-minded voters.

  16. Raskin can have his opinion, but most decent, educated “pre 2000” would require that Raskin and 10 other progressive, marxist, communists democrats would also recuse themselves permanently and never hold any office of government local, state or federal for 30 years!

  17. One of the thousands of CRIMINAL democrats that will be JAILED
    We need a Nuremberg trial to jail FASCIST Democrats

    It is OBVIOUS they are criminal fascists. And NO I don’t care WHAT Democrats say…they are FIGHTING A CIVIL WAR AGAINST America!

  18. On the basis of “even the impression of a conflict of interest,” yes Thomas should recuse himself from any case about which his wife is lobbying one side or the other. That brings up a bigger issue: get all of these husbands and wives and parents and kids out of any position that has anything to do with government

    2. What do you mean by “lobbying one side or the other”? Ginny Thomas is not a lobbyist for any party to any case that has come before her husband. She has never been a party, or worked for a party, to any such case.

      That she has lobbied (a first-amendment protected activity) on issues that have come up in such cases is NOT grounds for recusal. It never has been. Judges have NEVER recused themselves just because they or their immediate relations have lobbied or been otherwise associated with causes that relate to cases that came before them.

      When Judge Reinhart was on the 9th circuit, his wife ran the Southern California chapter of the ACLU. When that chapter was a party to a case before the 9th circuit, he would recuse himself; but when any other chapter brought a case he would NOT recuse himself, and nobody ever asked him to. His wife was not a party, so there was no conflict. End of story. Now how is that different from Ginny Thomas? Clarence should recuse himself only if a case ever comes up where she is directly involved with one of the parties, and not otherwise. Since Ginny never worked for Trump, she is not an issue.

  19. Rep. Raskin, the east coat Adam Schiff. It’s amazing how these far left Democrats ALWAYS put party over country. I’m very disappointed in the guilty before evidence or trial that the Democrat party has adopted over the years, as evidenced by the Kavanaugh and Barrett hearings, Trump Russia hoax, Trump impeachments, and now Thomas recusals. The party has indeed become and actual schiff hole.

  20. We are beginning to witness that growing desperation of the prog/left as their oh-so carefully laid out century of “fundamental transformation” of our nation is beginning to be exposes and they are attempting to stop any pushback from the right. This is just the beginning of such futile and desperate gestures (akin to the debacles of Colorado and Maine to improperly influence our election process and the use of digital machines and early access mail in ballots) that will grow as their utopian dreams of a socialist multicultural nation face growing push back as Americans realize the dire straights in which we now find ourselves.

    1. The growing panic amongst the ranks of our Disloyal Opposition should bring to mind that age-old bit of wisdom: “A cornered animal is the fiercest and can be very, very vicious”

      1. And do we think that any other than the conservative caucus in the House has any indication of understanding this? As much as there is about Trump and Vivek that is not totally appreciated, I do think that they are the only ones willing to stand tall and call out the enemies of our nation to their face. We do not need a Nicki Haley to be our first female rino president and DeSantis is fading because of the prog/left media giving the thumbs up to their favorite republican Haley.

        1. whimsicalmama – If Trump had a heart attack and died tomorow – would that change whether you voted republican or democrat in the general election ?

          The worst of the current republican filed is better than the best that democrats have to offer – with or without Biden.

          One analyst I followed noted that Trump moved to a commanding lead BECAUSE democrats targeted him.

          Many left wing nuts hear are angry because Trump has a strong MAGA core he can count on.
          But his polling has not gained 10pts because of that Core. He has gained 10pts because voters NOT part of that core are increasingly choosing Trump.

          Most of those GAINS – not the core, are voting AGAINST the current status quo, not FOR Trump. They are voting AGAINST endless wars. They are voting AGAINST a politically weaponized federal executive that is doing more than just targeting leading political opponents, they are targeting ordinary people over political differences. They are voting against a bad economy, they are voting against chaos at the border.

          To the extent they are voting FOR Trump at all – it is because HE has a GOOD track record on all those issues.

          Regardless, eliminate Trump and there will be a fight for who the republican candidate will be. But whatever the republican were to be – they will be voting AGAINST Biden in the general election.

          I have preferences among the GOP contenders for 2nd place. But there is not a single one that I would not pick over any democrat that could possibly run today. I am not happy that Nikki Halley has gone Full NeoCon in the primary. But if she won the reuplican nomination she would still win the general election.

          Voters ARE picking Trump as the Best choice to oppose Biden.
          But this election is not about either Trump or Biden. It is about the vision we have for this country. More specifically about opposition to the vision Democrats have adopted for this country, and are excercising in the current executive.

          We have our collection of left wing nut fascists here on JT.org. This election is quite litterally about opposition to the stupid authoritarian claims they make every day here.

          EB or DM or others argue that removing Trump from the ballot is legal. We fight here over stupid interpretations of the text of the constitution pushed by idiots arguing nonsense.

          But ultimately the most important argument that does not require parsing the constitution – is that it is WRONG.

          One of the left wing nuts here pointed out that Volohk had argued that a conviction for insurection is not necescary to remove someone from the ballot under the 14th amendment – I am not sure I agree, but that is not actually what matters.

          When those of one political party are seeking to use the law and constitution to STOP the other – bypassing voters,
          the question is NOT is it legal, is it constitutional, but do an OVERWHELMING percent of voters support having their choice taken from them.

          Eugene Debbs was unconstitutionally convicted of sedition. He ran for president as a communist from Jail.
          No one sought to remove him from the ballot. The next president then pardoned him – not because he supported communism.
          But because he opposed using the law to silence political opposition.

          1. I will agree that there is a basic discontent, distaste of, and anger at the current prog/left government. What people need to remember, though, is that electing a republican does not insure the fumigation of the entire prog/left infestation of our permanent bureaucracy and that is where most of our problems lie. Until we can disinfect leviathan of all its partisan socialist/progressive jihadists we will accomplish nothing towards returning this nation to its founding father’s principles and ideology. You are correct that it isn’t about Trump but most do not even see beyond the office to the deep morass of corruption and anti-American/constitution types inhabiting such positions of power within our government who have never been elected and are protected by unconstitutional government unions.

            1. Whimsicalmama,
              I have pointed out in the past the idea of America First is not a new idea. Trump just made it into a nifty campaign slogan.
              As you point out, this is not about Trump. It is the idea of MAGA or America First. The need to get back to the rule of law, common sense, decency, morality, logic all things an anathema to leftists ideology.

            2. Whimsical, you are correct. Not only do we need to get rid of the prog/left, but many Rino Republicans who knowingly or unknowingly aid and abet those who wish to destroy the nation.

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