Self-study
P1
The current approach to recusal and disqualification of judges heavily emphasizes appearance-based analysis. ████████████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████ █████████ █████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ███████████ ███ ███ ██████████ ██ ████████████ ██████ ███ ████████ ██ ██████ ██████ ███████ ██████████ ████ ███ ████ ██ █████ █████ ████████████ █████ ██████████ ██ ███████████ ██ ████ ██████████████ ████████ █████ █ █████ ██ █ █████ ██████████ ██ ███████ ████████████████ ██ █ █████ ███ █████ ██ █████ ██████████████ ███ ██████████████ ███ ███████ █████ ████ ███ █████ ██████
Intro to Topic ·
Judicial recusal
Currently, judges recuse themselves based on appearance of impropriety. Even if there's no real conflict of interest, as long as there is the appearance of impropriety, then they are expected to recuse themselves.
P2
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Criticism ·
Recusal rules are too vague
Criticism ·
Focus on appearance of bias instead of actual bias is a mistake
Actual bias is what matters. Focusing on appearance of bias may distract from noticing actual bias.
P3
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Proposed Solution ·
Transparent, written reasoning
If judge recuse, they should write out their reasons for recusing. If judge does not recuse, then write out their reasons for reaching their decision on the case.
P4
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Counterpoint ·
Written reason may be insincere
Real reason may be hidden.
Rebuttal ·
Doesn't matter
As long as impartial judges can read and agree with the explicit written reasoning, then whatever hidden real reasons don't matter.
Passage Style
Problem-analysis
Single position
8.
According to the passage, a ████████ ██ ███████ █████ █████████ ███████ ███ ████████████████ ██ ████ ████
a
interfere with judges' █████████ █████ ███ █████ ████ ████ ████
The author doesn’t suggest that current rules “interfere” with judges’ reasoning.
b
fail to specify █████ ███████████ ██ ████████ ██ ███████████ ████████ ████
This is
c
exaggerate the importance ██ ████████████ ██ ████████ █████████
The author doesn’t suggest that current rules exaggerate the importance of transparency. In fact, the author’s own recommended solution involves making reasoning transparent. So it would be strange for the author to criticize current rules for exaggerating the importance of transparency.
d
place responsibility for ███████ ████████ ██ ██████
Although the author mentions that some jurisdictions leave the decision to recuse entirely on judges, this isn’t true of all jurisdictions. And, the author never describes this as a weakness in current rules.
e
ignore the importance ██ ███ ██████████ ██ █████████
The current rules focus on the appearance of propriety. The author criticizes this aspect of the current rules. So the author wouldn’t say that a weakness of the current rules is that they don’t give enough attention to the appearance of propriety.