There are critics that say there should be a more hard and fast rule so that people pull themselves out or stay in not on a discretionary basis. Most of the recusals . The review mechanism could run afoul of the Constitutional mandate that there be only "one supreme court." And a recused justice always creates the threat of a four-four tie. But financial disclosures, orders, and case records provide insight into their decision-making. Several justices of all ideological stripes have testified before Congress and said that a binding code won't work for the justices because the decision is so context-specific. Revelations that Justice Clarence Thomass spouse sent at least 29 messages to Trump aides about overturning the 2020 election added to numerous examples of her sometimes outlandish partisan lobbying and Justice Thomass not recusing himself in cases involving matters about which she lobbied. Hannah Story Brown is a researcher at the Revolving Door Project. Sitting One Out: Strategic Recusal on the Supreme Court Alitos stock holdings appear to account for dozens of recusals, while Kagans stint as US solicitor general in the Obama administration are likely related to most of hers. Its low-hanging fruit, said Fredrickson, a former president of the progressive American Constitution Society. This is not partisan, this is institutional. FADEL: That's Louis Virelli, a professor at Stetson University College of Law. Introduction. Publicado en . Petitioners had links to businesses like Johnson & Johnson, AbbVie Inc., 3M Co., PNC Bank, a unit of PNC Financial Services Group Inc., and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a unit of J&J. Supreme Court of Ohio. Most recently, Thomas faced calls to sit out a Jan. 6-related case because his wife, Ginni, lobbied the White House to overturn the 2020 election. Site Management possible supreme court outcome when one justice is recused In that case, one party requested that a judge recuse himself because the other party's CEO spent over $3 million getting the judge elected. Oil company lawyers are pushing Justice Alito to indirectly decide cases he should recuse himself from. FADEL: And just to give people context - his wife, Ginni Thomas, her texts were revealed. Supreme Court justices are technically bound by a federal statute which holds that justices should recuse themselves from any proceeding in which their impartiality might reasonably be questioned, including when they have a financial interest in the subject matter in controversy or in a party to the proceeding, as Alito clearly does.