Kevin Daley of the Daily Caller highlights the most recent case of a U.S. Supreme Court case that might be jeopardized by one justice’s conflict of interest.
Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan recused herself Friday from a divisive immigration case that was argued in October, after her chambers identified a conflict of interest they inadvertently missed during the pre-argument conflicts audit. …
… Now it appears the case may again result in a four-four split. Clerk of the Court Scott Harris released a letter Friday informing the parties that Kagan discovered she had authorized a filing at an earlier stage of the case while serving as solicitor general in the Obama administration. …
… Jennings is the third time in as many terms that a justice participated in a case despite a clear conflict of interest. Chief Justice John Roberts recused himself from a patent case during the 2016 term nearly a month after the argument, once he discovered he owned stock in the parent company of one of the parties, Life Technologies.
One year before that, Justice Stephen Breyer participated in a Federal Power Act case despite the fact his wife owned stock in a company with a major stake in the outcome of the litigation. …
… Fix the Court, a judicial watchdog that advocates for increased transparency at the Supreme Court, said these repeated failures demonstrate the necessity of a formal, streamlined conflicts audit at the high court.
“We as citizens trust that our nation’s top legal officials work hard to avoid the appearance of impropriety,” Fix the Court executive director Gabe Roth said in a statement. “But today’s episode marks the third term in a row in which a justice heard an argument and then belatedly noticed a conflict. The justices can and should do better, and they can start by adopting a uniform software based conflict check system currently used by all lower federal judges.”
The Judicial Conference of the United States requires all federal courts to use the sort of conflict detection software Roth describes. The Supreme Court, however, is not bound by the ethics rules set by the Judicial Conference.
