Roberts on the High Court

Business Week, Dec. 19, 2005, had an intriguing article on Roberts' nine recusals in his short service on the Supreme Court.  ("Business' High Court Handicap:  Stock Holdings of Justice Can Keep Corporate Cases Off the Docket"All the recusals are related to his diverse investment portfolio.  The recusals not only involve cases that the court decides but also decisions on which cases the court should take.  So business savvy Justices may not take an active role in fashioning the Supreme Court's agenda.  The business community gets a Justice on the high court that understands and respects the business community and he has to recuse himself from important business cases because of his investment portfolio.  The cases are thus left to members of the court with limited investments.  Some Justices have limited personal assets; others hold their money exclusively in money market funds.  So Justices that have had success in business investments must either stay off business cases and the decision to take business cases or dump their portfolios and be content to hold money market funds.