Constitutional Law

Recusals Halt Apartheid Case At High Court

Several U.S. Supreme Court justices recused themselves this week from deciding to hear an expansive class action lawsuit against U.S. companies charged with furthering the life of the former apartheid government in South Africa. The recusals let stand a federal appeals court ruling that concluded the lawsuit could proceed.

The New York Times reported that four of the justices – Chief Justice John Roberts, Justices Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy and Stephen Breyer – recused themselves because of financial and personal ties to the companies.  A quorum of six justices is needed to decide whether to hear an appeal. The case, American Isuzu Motors v. Ntsebeza, involves plaintiffs who have accused an array of American businesses of “aiding and abetting” the former apartheid regime. The plaintiffs argue that the corporations have subverted one of the nation’s oldest laws, the Alien Tort Claims Act.

The Washington Post reported that while the number of recusals in the Ntsebeza case is unusual, recusals by the “justices are becoming more common as the court’s docket includes an increasing number of business cases.” The newspaper notes that Roberts’ holdings in the drug company, Pfizer, caused him to recuse himself from a case involving Rezulin, the diabetes drug that was yanked from the market in 2000 because of liver toxicity. Additionally Justices Breyer and Alito have recused themselves from other cases this term.    

Full post as published by ACS Blog on May 13, 2008 (boomark / email).