Should Amy Coney Barrett recuse herself from election-related cases?
Judicial Crisis Network President Carrie Severino joins 'The Story' with reaction.
“It has never been the historical standard” for a Supreme Court justice to recuse themselves from election-related cases at the request of a local board of elections, Judicial Crisis Network President Carrie Severino told “The Story” on Tuesday.
Severino was reacting to a motion by the Luzerne County Board of Elections asking newly sworn-in Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett to recuse herself from a controversial case over whether to grant an extension for counting mail-in ballots after Election Day.
“They are trying to invent something new here,” Severino told hot Martha McCallum.
In filing the motion earlier Tuesday, the board wrote specifically that President Trump’s rhetoric surrounding Barrett’s nomination and her swift confirmation to the Supreme Court just a week before the presidential election are worrisome when rulings in cases involving voting issues could affect the outcome of the race.
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“The nomination and confirmation of a Supreme Court justice this close to a presidential election is unprecedented,” the motion said. “As concerning as that is, what is even more troubling is the language President Trump has used in consideration of this nomination, linking it directly to the electoral season at hand, with implications for his own re-election.”
Severino scoffed at the idea Tuesday night.
“You had, for example, Justices [Sonia] Sotomayor and [Elena] Kagan [who] sat on numerous cases that President Obama was involved in during [an] election year, same thing for [Ruth Bader] Ginsburg and [Justice Stephen] Breyer," she said.
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“It has never been the standard that you have to recuse yourself in cases that involve the president who appointed you, including election-year cases,” Severino continued.
Barrett was confirmed Monday by the Senate in a 52-48 virtual party-line vote. She is expected to begin work as a justice on Tuesday after taking the second of two oaths required of judges by federal law. No justice has assumed office so close to a presidential election or immediately confronted issues so directly tied to the incumbent president's political and personal fortunes.
Fox News’ Vandana Rambaran and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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