Behold the following timeline:
November 21, 2023: Twitter, owned by Elon Musk, sues Media Matters for saying mean things about him.
Nine months pass . . .
August 9, 2024: NPR reports that the judge in the case, Reed O'Connor, holds stock in Tesla, which is also owned by Musk.
Today: O'Connor recuses himself from a different lawsuit involving Musk.
O'Connor only recused himself after he was caught, and only from one of the lawsuits. He provided no reasoning, but I suppose his excuse is that he doesn't own stock in Twitter, only Tesla, and he recused from the second case not because of Musk but because he owns stock in Unilever, one of the parties Musk is suing. Do you buy this?
Never mentioned is the obvious elephant in the room: Musk filed both suits in Wichita Falls, Texas, specifically so O'Connor would be his judge. Are you suspicious now? Judges get to unilaterally decide whether to recuse themselves, so it doesn't matter. But at the very least, my eyebrows were raised.
Shouldn't they have been tossed as frivolous?
The "judge" hasn't ruled on the merits yet, but somehow he already ordered for the discovery to start. It's all a righwing mockery of the judicial system to bankrupt those entities they see as enemies
Hate to break it to you, but discovery comes early in the litigation process. Ruling on the merits is at the end.
While the partisan hacks in the Supremecourt are free to police themselves, don't lower court judges actually have ethical rules they must abide or else be forced out of a case? Are rules as toothless as for the Supremes, or is the problem that those who should enforce them don't?
Can you explain what you think the ethical issue is?
Why does the judge have a conflict?
As falls Wichita, so falls Wichita Falls.
https://youtu.be/7Hqq0WyhkYs?si=-LSCLhYn6KWiZky0
One of my favorite album titles ever!
And what critical relationship to Wichita Falls does Musk, X, Tesla or Unilever have that demands the cases be filed there?
Unilever??
If you’re too morally corrupt for Unilever, nee Lever Brothers, you’re out there
William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme and James Darcy Lever. Why is this not a BBC costume drama?!
It even has a Darcy!!
The US judicial branch is rife with corruption and self-dealing. Being a judge has become a cushy insider job with too many freebies. We need to redirect the judicial branch from going any further in that direction before it is too late.
If Harris wins and Dems get control of Congress, adding some safeguards and rules and cleaning out corrupt judges (including the 2 in the SC) should be a priority.
The standard for recusal of federal judges is set forth in United States Code title 28, section 455. O'Connor's ownership of stock in a party mandates recusal under section 455(b). Recusal just because Elon Musk is involved is not otherwise mandated.
O'Connor may be a partisan hack, and the process of forum-shopping with single-judge districts is definitely corrupt. But that doesn't mean O'Connor is himself corrupt.