The difference between reassignment and recusal in Delaware's courts

By Jay Shah

Published April 3, 2026 at 12:18 PM EDT

The Leonard L. Williams Justice Center is one of the locations of the Court of Chancery and where Chancellor Kathleen McCormick hears most of her cases. — The Leonard L. Williams Justice Center is one of the locations of the Court of Chancery and where Chancellor Kathleen McCormick hears most of her cases including the three lawsuits against Elon Musk that she reassigned.

On Monday, March 30, Chancellor Kathleen McCormick, the highest judge on Delaware’s Court of Chancery, made an uncommon filing. She was originally set to preside over three lawsuits against Tesla CEO Elon Musk, but last week his lawyers accused her of showing bias over a LinkedIn post she allegedly liked.

In her filing this week, she refused to recuse herself, but reassigned the three lawsuits to other on the Chancery bench.

To understand what this means, Delaware Public Media’s Jay Shah spoke with Lawrence Cunningham, Director of the John L. Weinburg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware.

Reassignment vs Recusal

Lawrence Cunningham explains to DPM's Jay Shah why a Chancellor's reassignment ruling is significant

Additional Notes

While the Chancellor's actions are novel, Cunningham said there isn't a concrete way to find if this is the first time as many rulings aren't made public. However, given the high-profile nature of this case and Chancellor McCormick's stance, he said her ruling still holds significance.