Recusals
— Chief Justice Roberts failed to recuse in 14-972, ABB Inc., et al. v. Arizona Board of Regents, et al., despite owning shares in Texas Instruments stock, a party on the ABB side; missed recusal on 10/5/15 (cert. denied), reported on 12/18/15. FTC identified this conflict two months after cert. was denied and brought it to the chief’s attention. No further action was taken.
— Chief Justice Roberts failed to recuse in 14-1538, Life Technologies Corp. v. Promega Corp., despite owning shares in Thermo Fisher Scientific, which owns Life Technologies; missed recusal on 12/6/16 (argued); reported and recused on 1/4/17.
— Chief Justice Roberts failed to recuse in 17-1287, Marcus Roberts et al. v. AT&T Mobility, despite owning shares in Time-Warner, which had merged with AT&T four days prior (likely a SCOTUS conference day); missed recusal on 6/18/18 (cert. denied). FTC identified this conflict five months after cert. was denied, and no further action was taken.
Source: Fix the Court
Ethical Lapses
— Did not recuse in 14-972, ABB Inc., et al. v. Arizona Board of Regents, et al. (cert. denied), despite owning shares in Texas Instruments stock, a party on the ABB side. (2015)
— Initially did not recuse in a merits case, 14-1538, Life Technologies Corp. v. Promega Corp., despite owning shares in Thermo Fisher Scientific, which owns Life Technologies; did recuse once the error was brought to his attention. (2016)
— Did not recuse in 17-1287, Marcus Roberts et al. v. AT&T Mobility (cert. denied), despite owning shares in Time-Warner, which had merged with AT&T. (2018)
— Did not recuse in in 22-800, Moore v. U.S., despite his stake in Caraheen Partners — i.e., an “interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome of the proceeding” (28 U.S.C. §455(b)(4)) — whose annual tax bill may drop due to a possible outcome of the case. (2023)
Source: Fix the Court (PDF)