'Alexa, how does the judicial branch work?' Prog groups want Brett Kavanaugh to recuse himself from upcoming SCOTUS case because he has an opinion

Sarah D | 4:54 PM on December 17, 2019

Next year, the Supreme Court is set to hear a case on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and that’s apparently a problem for some progressive groups. You know, because Brett Kavanaugh (of course). See, Kavanaugh has gone on the record in the past with opinions about the CFPB that these groups don’t agree with.

Progressive groups demand Brett Kavanaugh recuse himself from CFPB Supreme Court case https://t.co/L3Kp50ygyQ

— CNBC (@CNBC) December 17, 2019

More from CNBC:

“We call on Justice Kavanaugh to recuse himself from hearing a case on which he has already made up his mind,” the groups — Demand Justice, Demand Progress Education Fund, the Revolving Door Project and Allied Progress — wrote in a statement.

“The law clearly states that judges should recuse themselves when their impartiality might reasonably be questioned. Brett Kavanaugh has already ruled on the underlying legal question in this case. He cannot plausibly claim to be open to arguments from both sides,” they wrote.

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In an opinion for a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in 2016, Kavanaugh wrote that the “concentration of massive, unchecked power in a single Director marks a dramatic departure from settled historical practice and makes the CFPB unique among independent agencies.”

The full court overturned his decision two years later, prompting Kavanaugh to pen a dissent that reiterated his belief that the agency’s structure was unconstitutional. That case is known as PHH Corp. v. CFPB.

“In PHH, Kavanaugh offered a more than 70 page long dissent which he told the Senate constituted one of the most ‘significant constitutional opinions’ of his judicial career,” the groups said. “Kavanaugh’s personal reputational interest in seeing that bitter dissent against a bipartisan majority be vindicated by the Supreme Court is considerable.”