Judicial Recusal, Spouses and Health Care Reforms: Correspondent's Report from the USA

Abstract

The normally staid topics of judicial ethics and the standards for judicial recusal have become the focus of political debates, editorials, and letter writing campaigns. Most of the recent focus falls on conservative justices of the United States Supreme Court and in particular on their anticipated participation in what is expected to be an important ruling on the constitutionality of the health care reforms championed by President Obama and the Democratic Party. But the issue is not simply about partisan politics. It's also about the structure of the US federal judiciary and the need to think about the impact of two-career couples on the judicial recusal rules.