SocraticGadfly: How could SCOTUS not vote 9-0 on this?

June 08, 2009

How could SCOTUS not vote 9-0 on this?

So, the four ultraconservatives think it’s OK to bribe judges, in essence?

Rather, with the usual 5-4 split, with Anthony Kennedy swinging the right direction, that is to the left, on this one, said elected judges must recuse themselves from cases involving major campaign contributors.

In the case at hand, a West Virginia Supreme Court justice refused to recuse himself from a lawsuit against Big Coal titan Massey Coal, even though Massey had given him more than $3 million in campaign contributions. The suit itself is now over $80 million, with interest.

I guess Roberts, Scalia, Alito and Thomas are OK with the Gilded Age?

Beyond that, as Kennedy noted the court was making no finding of actual bias, is NOBODY of the Nine familiar with behavioral economics or behavioral psychology? The idea that a judge could rationally rule in such a case is ridiculous, whether his or her actual biases would be conscious or subconscious.

No comments: