Stock holdings could hold back Roberts on some cases

[Eugene]

Posted 8/29/2005 12:24 AM Updated 8/29/2005 12:26 AM

Stock holdings could hold back Roberts on some cases

By Jim Drinkard, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — John Roberts, President Bush's Supreme Court nominee,
could wind up sitting out important cases that come before the court
because of his extensive stock holdings, legal ethics experts say.

Federal law is clear: Judges may not participate if they, their spouses
or their minor children own stock in a company that is a party to a
case, although at the Supreme Court, how the rule is applied is up to
each justice. (Related story: Justices can skip cases but prefer not to)

Roberts owns $1.6 million in stock in companies such as Time Warner,
Microsoft, Pfizer and Merck, which regularly have cases before the
federal appeals courts.

<snip>

In a Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire, Roberts said he would
recuse himself in cases involving his former law firm or former
clients, which include corporations, state and local governments,
and trade associations. He didn't say how he would resolve financial
conflicts, except to say he would follow recusal laws.

Full article: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-08-29-roberts-stocks_x.htm

[Silverhair]

1. No biggie, not even a smallie.

It is reasonable to assume that all the justices have some personal stock investments and must recuse themselves from certain cases.

[alkaline9]

2. but its already been shown that Roberts...

...doesn't know when to recuse himself(aka having an interest in the supreme court nomination and still hearing the case involving the administration). And as the article states, it is Robert's decision once he is on the supreme court whether to recuse himself or not. This smells of 40 years of bias in the supreme court.

[wli]

3. indeed... this court is already a complete tool of the military junta n/t