Judge Amy Berman Jackson blasted Roger Stone while rejected a defense request that she step down from the case due to “bias.”
Stone is trying to get rid of the judge and get a new trial with claims of bias, but Judge Berman Jackson wrote in response to his motion:
At bottom, given the absence of any factual or legal support for the motion for disqualification, the pleading appears to be nothing more than an attempt to use the Court’s docket to disseminate a statement for public consumption that has the words’ judge’ and ‘biased’ in it.
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Judges cannot be ‘biased’ and need not be disqualified if the views they express are based on what they learned while doing the job they were appointed to do.
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The defendant has not suggested that the Court said one word about him outside of the courtroom, or to anyone other than the parties, at any time. Its characterization of the jurors’ service was voiced on the record, and it was entirely and fairly based on the Court’s observations of the jurors in the courthouse; through the nine days of voir dire and trial, when they were uniformly punctual and attentive, and through their thoughtful communications with the Court during deliberation … and the delivery of the verdict.
Roger Stone’s motion was all about laying the groundwork for Trump to claim judicial bias as his reason for pardoning him. The judge has not been biased against Stone. She has been fair to a defendant who violated or skirted her orders numerous times during the case.
Stone and Trump can’t bully the judge, but they are laying a bogus pardon pretext that is visible from a mile away.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
