The Supreme Court has denied the request of Freedom Watch, a conservative group opposed to the health-care reform act, to have Justice Elena Kagan recuse herself from hearings challenging the law, scheduled to take place this June.
Critics say that Justice Kagan should disqualify herself from the case because she was solicitor general while the law was being developed. Others say Justice Clarence Thomas also has a potential conflict of interest, because his wife opposes the law and is working to have it repealed.
In December, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote that it's up to individual jurists to decide whether they need to exclude themselves from a trial. “The Supreme Court does not sit in judgment of one of its own members’ decision whether to recuse in the course of deciding a case,” he wrote. “Indeed, if the Supreme Court reviewed those decisions, it would create an undesirable situation in which the court could affect the outcome of a case by selecting who among its members may participate.”
