Dean Johnson Comments on Iranian-American Judge Recusal for California Report
Dean Kevin R. Johnson commented for the syndicated public radio program The California Report on the Iranian-American immigration judge who is suing the U.S. Department of Justice over a blanket recusal order barring her from hearing cases involving Iranian nationals.
The order is unusual, Dean Johnson explained, because recusals generally involve a personal connection to a specific case that might impair a judge's ability to be impartial with regard to that case. With the blanket recusal, the Department of Justice seems to call into question the judge's overall ability to be impartial, Dean Johnson said.
"You have to think if the government wants to remove all cases of Iranian nationals from her docket because they're worried about her ability to be impartial, why do they still want her to be an immigration judge?"
Kevin R. Johnson is Dean and Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and Chicana/o studies at UC Davis School of Law. He is an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of immigration law and policy, refugee law, and civil rights.