Roberts Won't Compel Alito To Recuse

 Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. is fond of describing the role of Supreme Court justices as being that of umpires calling balls and strikes. What has become apparent over the years is that the strike zone used by these “umpires “ depends upon who is in the batter’s box. When an issue is dear to conservative justices they abandon their professed commitment to narrow rulings and embrace an activism they often claim to abhor, thus expanding the strike zone. When a progressive cause is before them they revert to the originalist approach and shrink the zone. These fluctuating calls are largely responsible for the loss of public confidence in the Court’s impartiality.  Even more corrosive to the Court’s reputation and legitimacy has been the acceptance by some justices of extraordinary largesse from wealthy “friends “ who happen to have matters pending before the Court, generous gifts which the justices failed to disclose. But the final and fatal miscall that threatens to wreck what may be left of the Court’s standing as fair arbiters is the refusal of Justices Alito and Thomas to recuse themselves from cases that raise questions about which they or their spouses have demonstrated strong predispositions and the failure of the Chief Justice to enforce a recently adopted code of ethics intended to prevent justices from acting on cases where their participation creates a substantial appearance of impropriety. This time it is the umpire-in-chief who has struck out.