Jamie Raskin Offers Some Hope For SCOTUS Failings But He’ll Have To Check With The Wives First

I appreciate and admire Jamie Raskin. I really do. In a NY Times guest essay he offers a glimmer of hope for those of us who think Sam Alito and Clarence Thomas should recuse themselves from decision making over whether or not Trump (or any president) should have any sort of immunity for his/her actions. What he offfers makes sense in a world of honor, in which the rule of law is adhered to, and in most corners of the world not inhabited by MAGA conmen, rapists, and thieves.

Here’s an excerpt:

Of course, Justices Alito and Thomas could choose to recuse themselves — wouldn’t that be nice? But begging them to do the right thing misses a far more effective course of action.

The U.S. Department of Justice — including the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, an appointed U.S. special counsel and the solicitor general, all of whom were involved in different ways in the criminal prosecutions underlying these cases and are opposing Mr. Trump’s constitutional and statutory claims — can petition the other seven justices to require Justices Alito and Thomas to recuse themselves not as a matter of grace but as a matter of law.

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.

It’s a good, principled, and rational proposal. But even if the levers of government can be oiled up enough to work the way he’s proposing, these two guys aren’t going anywhere until Ginny Thomas and Martha-Ann Alito give their obviously hen-pecked spouses the go ahead. 

Again, much respect to Mr. Raskin, he deserves it. But we’re well past laws, rules, honor, and traditions on this matter. Unless you count the tradition of wives ruling the roost, while their husbands strut about pretending they do. 

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.