CNN Already Demanding Nominee Recuse Herself on Election Cases

Before Amy Coney Barrett was even nominated, CNN Newsroom host John King was insisting she would have to recuse herself from any case about the 2020 election because of President Trump's remarks about why he wanted to appoint a ninth justice.  King made the observation on Thursday when he took two innocuous things and made them sound sinister, "Now to be clear what the president says in mail-in voting is not true, a lie, but he’s brazenly transparent about his strategy right now. Trump campaign lawyers are furiously mounting challenges to new pandemic voting rules all across the country and the president makes clear he not only wants a new Supreme Court justice confirmed before the campaign and expects him to side with him when there are election challenges."     Both sides have lawyers, and have had them for a long time, and they are always on the look out for illegal behavior. Secondly, King based his argument on a clip of Trump saying, "I think it's better to go before the election because I think this scam that the Democrats are pulling, it’s a scam. This scam will be before the United States Supreme Court… I think it's very important to have a ninth justice." A few minutes later King was joined by GOP election lawyer Ben Ginsberg, a veteran of the 2000 Bush-Gore recount. Ginsberg affirmed King's idea that there's no widespread problem with mail-in ballots. But King took it one step further and replayed the earlier Trump clip, but this time removed the time jump, "I think it's better if you go before the election because I think this scam that the Democrats are pulling, it is a scam, this scam will be before the United States Supreme Court and I think having a 4-4 situation is not a good situation."  The reasonable read with the added context is that having a tie in such an important case is not a desirable outcome, but King still demanded the nominee recuse herself on election-related case, "but help me as an expert in the law, are there not rules now if you are soon-to-be Justice perhaps Amy Coney Barrett, or whoever the president picks, and he publicly and repeatedly says one reason to get this justice confirmed is to get her vote on the Supreme Court for a post-election challenge, does that justice not have a responsibility to recuse herself?" King is confused. Any case brought before the Court will allege a specific violation of election law, not a debate on grand narratives about mail-in balloting. As to King's question, of course the answer is no, as Ginsberg told him, "Each justice makes the determination for him or herself whether they need to recuse in a case, John. So it may put a burden on whoever is the pick but it's not going to be a requirement, there certainly will be a lot of debate about it." This segment was sponsored by Progressive. Here is a transcript for the September 24 show: CNN CNN Newsroom 12:02 PM ET JOHN KING: Now to be clear what the president says in mail-in voting is not true, a lie, but he’s brazenly transparent about his strategy right now. Trump campaign lawyers are furiously mounting challenges to new pandemic voting rules all across the country and the president makes clear he not only wants a new Supreme Court justice confirmed before the campaign and expects him to side with him when there are election challenges.  BEGIN CLIP DONALD TRUMP: I think it's better to go before the election because I think this scam that the Democrats are pulling, it’s a scam. This scam will be before the United States Supreme Court… I think it's very important to have a ninth justice.  END CLIP … 12:10 BEGIN CLIP DONALD TRUMP: I think it's very important that we have nine justices… I think it's better if you go before the election because I think this scam that the Democrats are pulling, it is a scam, this scam will be before the United States Supreme Court and I think having a 4-4 situation is not a good situation.  END CLIP KING: Again, there's no evidence of a democratic scam. Let people fight out the election and all that but help me as an expert in the law, are there not rules now if you are soon to be justice perhaps Amy Coney Barrett, or whoever the president picks, and he publicly and repeatedly says one reason to get this justice confirmed is to get her vote on the Supreme Court for a post-election challenge, does that justice not have a responsibility to recuse herself?  BEN GINSBERG: Each justice makes the determination for him or herself whether they need to recuse in a case, John. So it may put a burden on whoever is the pick but it's not going to be a requirement, there certainly will be a lot of debate about it.          

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