The official campaign to oust Aaron Persky, the judge who sentenced a former Stanford student convicted of sexual assault to six months in jail has intensified as of late, and the online Change.org petition has collected more than 1,200,000 signatures.
But a debate is brewing among progressives about whether recall efforts are a fair tactic. Some even compare it to efforts by Republicans in the 1980s to successfully oust three justices from the California Supreme Court.
Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of the UC Irvine School of Law, argues against the Persky’s removal. He instead advocates for a prosecutorial appeal, suggesting that a recall would jeopardize judicial independence.
What do you think about recalling Judge Persky? Is it deserved punishment, or something else?
Guest:
Erwin Chemerinsky, founding dean of the School of Law at UC Irvine and an expert on constitutional law