Popehat @kenwhite.bsky.social

Just a reminder: the “would a reasonable person question their impartiality” test is not an actual normal reasonable person test, to the extent there is such a thing. It is a stylized, history-encrusted, precedent-confined test based on what octogenarian white judges thought was reasonable. /1

5 replies 31 reposts 268 likes

Popehat @kenwhite.bsky.social [ View ] May 29, 2024 at 17:32 UTC

/2 Put another way the “reasonable person” in the test is a “reasonable career lawyer who is firmly ensconced in judicial culture and shares a common set of assumptions and beliefs with the judiciary.” What’s reasonable to you may vary. You may not like it but that’s the law.

9 replies 15 reposts 245 likes

Your Pal in Ypsi @ypsidoodle.bsky.social [ View ] May 29, 2024 at 22:26 UTC

I think we can all agree that Roger Taney was a very reasonable man.

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@lokicharms.bsky.social [ View ] May 29, 2024 at 17:49 UTC

Aren’t they supposed to avoid even the _appearance_ of bias or corruption?

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Lighting Rod [Bluesky Older] @yendorcire.bsky.social [ View ] May 29, 2024 at 19:32 UTC

I think it’s reasonable to assume that if a person says, "I won't control an insurrectionist in my house." It can be surmised that"I’m not going to bother to control an insurrectionist in this society that I am ostensibly in charge of." Is also true.

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Jamie Bowden @jsbowden.bsky.social [ View ] May 29, 2024 at 17:38 UTC

So outside observers need not apply, and insiders will never see the problem. Awesome.

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