Advocacy Group Says Justices May Have Conflict in Campaign Finance Cases

[groovedaddy]

WASHINGTON — When the conservative financier Charles Koch sent out invitations for a political retreat in Palm Springs later this month, he highlighted past appearances at the gathering of “notable leaders” like Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court.

A leading liberal group is now trying to use that connection to argue that Mr. Scalia and Mr. Thomas should disqualify themselves from hearing campaign finance cases because they may be biased toward Mr. Koch, a billionaire who has been a major player in financing conservative causes.

The group, Common Cause, filed a petition with the Justice Department on Wednesday asking it to investigate potential conflicts by Justices Scalia and Thomas and move for their disqualification from the landmark Citizens United case, in which the court last year lifted a ban on corporate spending on political campaigns. Common Cause also cited the role of Mr. Thomas’s wife, Virginia Thomas, in forming a conservative political group opposed to the Obama administration as grounds for his disqualification.

The petition is a new tack for opponents of the court’s decision in the Citizens United case. Common Cause, by its own acknowledgment, faces a difficult task in getting the justices’ to remove themselves from the case and seeking to have the Citizens United decision itself vacated.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/20/us/politics/20koch.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha23

[Enthusiast]

1. It's a clear conflict of interest.

But Scalia and Thomas have no sense of justice. Really. Imagine, justices on the highest court in the land with no sense of justice. But it is true.

[groovedaddy]

2. They got to the court on a mission that they are now fulfilling. It's way beyond simple

conflict of interest.

[MissMarple]

3. Scalia will never admit a conflict. He is always right, always. Just ask him.

He has said that his opinions are always correct and the justices who disagree are, well, always wrong. He cheerfully admitted this in an interview that I believe was on PBS a few years ago. And Thomas always votes with him. So, there. ;)

[groovedaddy]

4. Scalia = arrogant asshole! n.t