For someone who is a member of the bar and was a longtime chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, President Biden demonstrated a shocking lack of understanding of what it means for a Justice of the Supreme Court to recuse him- or herself. It almost has to be his dementia, which is now so self-evident in his public appearances.

He was asked in his press conference yesterday (all 12 minutes and 46 seconds of it) if Justice Thomas should recuse himself from any case involving the January 6 “insurrection” (the word that the reporter used) because of something his wife texted.

YouTube screengrab

He said that he would leave that to “two entities,” the January 6 committee of Congress and the Justice Department. Watch:

Biden’s understanding of the fundamentals of the federal goverenment as established by the Constitution also seems rather shaky. For the record (attention: Joe Biden), there are 3 branches of the federal government. The Judicial Branch, at the top of which the Supreme Court sits, is separate from the Legislative Branch, which includes the January 6 Committee. The  Executive Branch, which Biden heads, and which includes the Justice Department, is the other branch. Neither the Legislative nor the Executive Branch has anything to do with recusals in the Judicial Branch.

Hat tip: Richard Baehr