Berkley calls for Thomas to recuse on health care

With it seeming inevitable that the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will wind up as a matter for the Supreme Court to decide, Rep. Shelley Berkley is calling on Justice Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from the health care case.

The Nevadan is one of 73 House Democrats who are demanding that Thomas sit it out because his wife, Virginia, is a lobbyist who has advertised for conservative clients and may have already tipped a hand on the matter.

"From what we have already seen, the line between your impartiality and you and your wife's financial stake in the overturn of health care reform is blurred," the lawmakers wrote to Thomas. "Your spouse is advertising herself as a lobbyist who has “experience and connections” and appeals to clients who want a particular decision - they want to overturn health care reform."
   
Ginni Thomas ran into controversy last fall when a position paper declaring the health care law as "unconstitutional" was posted to the website of Liberty Central, a conservative organization she founded.

A day after the web posting was reported, Liberty Central removed the reference.

Thomas is not the only Supreme Court justice who is being targeted in pre-case skirmishing. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah says Justice Elena Kagan should recuse herself from deciding on health care reform because she previously served as U.S. solicitor general in the Obama administration.

Meanwhile Rep. Chris Murphy, D-Ct., says he will introduce a bill requiring Supreme Court justices to set a process where parties could request the court to decide whether a justice might be conflicted.
   
Murphy said his beef stems from the Citizens United case in which the court overturned restrictions on corporate funding of elections. He challenged whether Thomas and Justice Antonin Scalia had a conflict in that matter.