Federal Judiciary

New brief on Benjamin turned aside

By Akin Gump Supreme Court Practice Group

A late attempt to reinforce a claim that the chief justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court is not biased failed on Friday when the Supreme Court denied permission to file a new brief on the issue.  Attorneys for A.T. Massey Coal Co., Inc., on March 3 had filed a motion to file a supplemental brief in Caperton v. Massey Coal (08-22) — a case the Justices heard that day testing whether the Due Process Clause sets a standard for recusal of judges.  There was no explanation for rejecting the brief.

In it, Massey’s counsel sought to lay before the Justices a “press release detailing [Chief] Justice [Brent] Benjamin’s voting history in matters involving Massey Energy Co. and its affiliates.”  That history, the brief contended, bears on the issue of whether there was a probability of bias based on the large sums of money spent by a Massey executive to defeat Benjamin’s election opponent.

The news release can be found here.

Full post as published by SCOTUSBLOG on March 20, 2009 (boomark / email).