While calls continue for Supreme Court Associate Justice Elena Kagan to recuse herself from upcoming arguments over ObamaCare, experts say recusals are not uncommon.
Kagan's fellow Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor had to recuse herself from a climate-change case in the previous term. Hans Von Spakovsy of The Heritage Foundation explains.
"This was the American Electric Power Company v. Connecticut case [Docket No. 10-174]. The Supreme Court was reviewing the decision of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, and Sotomayor was on the Second Circuit when that decision was made," he shares. "[Recusal] happens not that rarely."
Spakovksy agrees that Kagan should recuse herself from hearing arguments over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka "ObamaCare"), based on the fact that Kagan's impartiality can be questioned with her having worked as solicitor general when the bill was debated in Congress and signed into law. Terry Jeffrey, author and editor of CNSNews.com, agrees.
"Thurgood Marshall, who was solicitor general of the United States -- the same position that Elena Kagan was and for whom Elena Kagan clerked -- recused himself from many cases that came before the Supreme Court," Jeffrey tells OneNewsNow.
The journalist explains that U.S. Code Title 28, Section 28 "dictates when a Supreme Court justice must recuse from a case when their impartiality can be reasonably questioned, and if they ever expressed an opinion about the merits of the case while in governmental employment."
Prior to becoming solicitor general, Thurgood Marshall worked for the NAACP.
Contact: Chris Woodward
Source: OneNewsNow
