Miscellaneous

Well, Recuuuuuuse Me!

By Anne Skove, Esq.

Chief Justice Roberts's recusal caused an even split on the High Court recently, sending SCOTUS watchers into a frenzy. (It certainly doesn't take much!)

CJ Roberts recused himself in Warner-Lambert, making the case a 4-4 tie. Earlier this term, J. Kennedy recused himself in two public school cases, one of which had the same cat's game result.

For statistics, see How Often Does a Recusal Result in an Equally Divided Court?, Jason Harrow, SCOTUSblog (March 6, 2008).

See also Recusal and the Supreme Court, Debra Lyn Bassett, Hastings Law Journal, vol. 56, p. 657 (2005), which hails from the duck-hunting era but poses the interesting solution of disclosure via "statements of interest."

Our favorite treatise about recusal (doesn't everyone have one?) is Richard E. Flamm's Judicial Disqualification: Recusal and Disqualification of Judges, Boston: Little, Brown (1996).

Full post as published by court-o-rama.org on March 09, 2008 (boomark / email).