Let The Supremes Be Supreme

Political interest groups and some members of Congress are now suggesting that either Clarence Thomas or Elena Kagan (depending of course on their political point of view) should recuse themselves from consideration of the legal challenges to the new health care law.

This is just another manifestation of the current tendency for everything to be turned into a political issue.  But it's silly, and might do more harm than good.

I agree with the "experts" and court historians who suggest there are no grounds for suggesting recusal, either for Thomas or Kagan.  The rule is that each Justice decides whether there is any conflict of interest.  Let's not try to meddle in that.  Despite some really wacky decisions from the Roberts court (e.g., the grant of unlimited political spending to corporations), I believe that if we are to have any confidence in our Supreme Court, and in our government institutions generally, we must collectively assume two precepts to be valid:

• Those who serve generally take their oath of office seriously and seek to serve, defend, and uphold the Constitution.
• Those who serve attempt to perform their tasks without political or other bias, and recognize that, whatever their previous experience, their higher calling requires a different standard.

Without these underpinnings, we could have no confidence whatever in our courts or government agencies.  I would argue that the current climate, in which many people appear in fact to have lost that confidence, stems in part from the willingness of partisan politicans to throw our trust under a bus if it helps them make political points.  It's in that sense that those pushing for recusal now may be doing more harm than good.

Through history, it has become almost an adage that Presidents are often fooled by their Supreme Court nominees.  This occurs as a result of the second precept above.  More than once, a solidly "Democratic" or "Republican" justice, once having reached the bench, has dashed the expectations of those who appointed him/her by taking an unexpected juridical tack.  This Court, too, may harbor some surprises.  Let's give them the chance to prove they are above politics.