In March of 2012, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments regarding the health reform law. Since the dates for this case were announced, there have been people pushing for two of the Supreme Court judges to recuse themselves from this case. It is unlikely that any of the judges will self-recuse.
The Supreme Court is going to hear an extremely important case this year. There will be a total of five and a half hours of oral arguments regarding the Affordable Care Act and the individual mandate. Those hours will split up into three days.
On March 26, 2012, the Supreme Court will hear one hour of arguments. This day will be focused on the Anti-Injunction Act. The key point will be to determine whether or not the penalty imposed upon Americans who choose not to purchase health insurance in 2014 is actually a tax.
On March 27, 2012, the Supreme Court will hear two hours of arguments. The focus of this day will be to determine whether or not Congress overstepped its powers by creating the individual mandate. On March 28, 2010, the Supreme Court will hear 90 minutes of arguments. The focus here will be to decide if the Affordable Care Act can survive if the individual mandate is struck down,
There are political groups who have been pushing some of the Supreme Court Justices to recuse themselves from hearing this case. Specifically, they are targeting Justice Elena Kagen, and Justice Clarence Thomas. To make a long story short, the political groups feel that these two Justices are too closely connected to the Affordable Care Act.
It is highly unlikely that a Supreme Court Justice will decide to recuse himself or herself from hearing a case. Part of the reason why has to do with how the court system functions.
A judge can choose to recuse himself from hearing a particular case if he or she feels that they have a conflict of interest with something concerning that case. Another judge at that court could hear the case instead. Or, there is the potential that the case could be heard by a higher court.
The Supreme Court is the highest court in the United States. Once a case makes it to this court, there is nowhere else for it to go. This is the end of the line. There are nine Supreme Court Justices, and they all get a vote about the outcome of a case. You need an odd number of Justices in order to create a majority decision. So, for things to work, it would require both Kagen and Thomas to recuse themselves, or, it would require neither one of them to do so.
Another reason has to do with the 2011 Year End Report that was written by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. This report has been called a defense explaining why Supreme Court Justices should not recuse themselves from controversial cases.
Image by openDemocracy on Flickr