A federal judge overseeing the exonerated Central Park Five’s defamation lawsuit against President-elect Trump has recused himself after it was discovered he had close ties to the plaintiff's lead attorney.
The Hill reported that U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson was asked to recuse himself by Trump's lawyers after it was discovered that Baylson and Shanin Specter, the Central Park Five’s lead attorney, had close ties.
Baylson and Specter have been friends since childhood and Specter had represented Baylson and his wife in legal matters.
This represented a serious conflict of interest and Baylson could not be trusted to function as an impartial judge in this matter and as such has recused himself from the case.
This led to a motion from Trump's attorney which read, "Defendant respectfully submits that a reasonable person would question the Court’s impartiality in this matter, and therefore seeks recusal."
Baylson, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush, quickly stepped aside but interestingly he first consulted plaintiffs who declined to oppose his recusal.
This begs the question of what Baylson would have done if the plaintiffs had opposed his recusal. Would Judge Baylson have stayed on the case despite his close relationship with his plaintiff's lead attorney if the plaintiffs wanted him to?
However, thankfully this situation was avoided and the case will be assigned to a different judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
The case was filed against Trump by the Central Park 5 in response to comments made by Trump during September’s presidential debate about the circumstances around the group’s wrongful conviction.
The Central Park 5 were found guilty of the 1989 rape and assault of a woman jogging in New York City’s Central Park in a case that shocked America for its brutality and violence.
Their conviction was overturned later but the circumstances around both their overturned conviction and the original case are still being debated. Trump pointed out how all five teens had "pled guilty” and they “killed a person ultimately” in a brutal rape.
Trump has long been vocal about the Central Park 5 and believes their conviction was wrongfully overturned thanks to political reasons. Now the Central Park 5 are doing their best to drag Trump into court on defamation charges.
The Central Park 5 are going to have serious issues dragging Trump into court now that he is the President-elect and will be sworn in as the 47th President of the United States in January.
Like the other legal actions against Trump, his ascendency to the presidency all but crushes any hopes that his opponents had. Democrats launched multiple indictments against Trump all of which are in the process of winding down now that Trump is back in the White House.
Nonetheless, as the Central Park 5's case is a civil lawsuit not brought by the Department of Justice, this case could carry on for a while but is unlikely to be of consequence.
