Roberts May Be Sidelined in Some Cases

[Judi Lynn]

Roberts May Be Sidelined in Some Cases
By GINA HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer

Saturday, September 10, 2005

(09-10) 09:32 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) --

John Roberts is an appeals court judge with a multimillion-dollar portfolio, a spouse who is a successful lawyer and a broad roster of clients from his days in private practice.

Those all mean he probably will have to disqualify himself from dozens of Supreme Court cases should he become chief justice. It is an situation that, while not unusual, would leave the nine-member court with a potential for tie votes.

Roberts, whose confirmation hearings are to begin Monday, can minimize his problems. For example, he could put his money in mutual funds or other types of investments. But ethics experts say his early years on the Supreme Court will require diligence to avoid conflicts.

Potential personal conflicts, along with questions about his appellate opinions and correspondence as a lawyer during two Republican administrations, are expected to dominate the hearings by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
(snip/...)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/09/10/national/w093214D66.DTL

[Mz Pip]

1. Fat chance

Did Tony "sideline himself" when the court had to rule on his hunting buddy Dick's energy task force case came up?

These are people who don't give a rat's ass about potential personal conflicts.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[Rose Siding]

2. Doesn't the judge himself decide when to recuse?

I recall that one of the felonious five had a relative working on bush's campaign when they heard bush V Gore and wasn't recused.

Oh, sure- I can be fair and impartial *wink wink*

[punpirate]

3. Since he's already in an ethical pickle...

... for staying on a case involving (and deciding in favor of) the administration while being interviewed for the SC nomination, I doubt he'll ever be troubled by any future ethical demands for recusal.

The very cases he ought to excuse himself from are the ones the Bush administration is nominating him to adjudicate.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

4. only ethical people recuse themselves - think Scalia

Roberts will take the same position as he.

[guruoo]

5. Riiiight... like cheney did with Halliburton

'Roberts, whose confirmation hearings are to begin Monday, can minimize his problems. For example, he could put his money in mutual funds or other types of investments. But ethics experts say his early years on the Supreme Court will require diligence to avoid conflicts.'

[leveymg]

6. The Dems need to push him to recuse on all BushCo cases

What could be a clearer conflict than if Roberts has a vote on cases involving the prosecution of Bush (and his croneys) who appointed him? Our Senators need to hammer and not yield on this point.

[Placebo]

7. All the more reason to DUMP HIM...

as Dr Dean suggested yesterday on CNN.