The SCOTUS can DO that?!

[Wisconsin Beth]

Apparently 5 of the Justices of the US Supreme Court recused themselves in 1 case. 

www.crimeandconsequences.com/crimblog/2015/10/five-justices-recused.html#more

Missud v. Court of Appeal of Cal., No. 15-5601 is decidedly different. The Court lacks a quorum because five Justices are recused, and by statute that results in a summary affirmance. How did five Justices get recused?
Patrick Missud is a disbarred California lawyer according to the State Bar's online lawyer status page. According to the California Court of Appeal decision in the underlying case:

Appellant [Missud] was admitted to the California Bar in 2002. In 2004, appellant purchased a home in Nevada. During the seven years that followed, he engaged in litigation arising out of that purchase. Appellant filed at least eight separate lawsuits, and multiple motions and appeals in California and Nevada, but failed to prevail in any of that litigation. On March 22, 2012, a federal district court declared appellant a vexatious litigant and referred him to respondent [the State Bar] for disciplinary action. Respondent also received referrals about appellant from several of his opposing counsel.

Then he sued the State Bar for defamation for publishing the recommendation in his disbarment proceeding. Filing frivolous litigation as a way to cope with getting your ticket yanked for filing frivolous litigation is a suboptimum strategy, IMHO.

The trial court threw out his suit, the Court of Appeal affirmed, and Missud filed a writ petition in the California Supreme Court, which it summarily denied. That is the case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Why are five Justices recused? Is it coincidence that they are the five generally regarded as "conservative"? I do not know. Given Missud's pattern of behavior, I would not be surprised if he made frivolous allegations against them. (Just speculating -- I can't find the certiorari petition online.) Past behavior is, after all, the best predictor of future behavior. If that is the source of the recusals, then his efforts got him a summary affirmance of the decision against him, and there would be some poetic justice in that.

[thyme4change]

Federal judges don't get recused by someone else - they decide if they can officiate fairly, and if their position is such that by taking the case, they won't be doing something unethical.  It is on the honor system.  They also recuse if any of their clerks or influential staff have a conflict.  In every other court it just gets bounced to another judge.  

I found this article:


ipethicslaw.com/after-a-decade-of-frivolous-litigation-ip-lawyer-finally-ousted-from-california-bar/

It says:

Missud refused to give up and instead ratcheted up his litigation machine. This time, he turned his sights on the judiciary itself, filing over the next several years a dozen district court actions. The defendants in those cases included everyone from United States Supreme Court Justices, to federal district court judges, state court judges, the State Bars of California, Nevada and Texas, the San Francisco Superior Court, the State of Nevada, the Nevada Supreme Court, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. All of his lawsuits were dismissed as frivolous.

It would be considered unethical to decide if someone was filing frivolous lawsuits if you were a defendant in the lawsuit that is being judged.  So, bam - 5 recusals, from his own dumb actions.  

[thyme4change]

P.S.

The dude is clearly crazy.  

www.judgesforsale.org/-cotu----hobb-.html

Some people with mental illness / paranoia / etc.  The internet is littered with crazy-ass court filing.  My favorite one was the guy who said there was a conspiracy against him by a dozen people - all of which were super-famous.  His list included the President, actors, singers, sports stars and super-prominent business people.  Hilarious, and very sad.  

[Wisconsin Beth]

I think it's the fact that 5 of them recused themselves that I find so stunning.  5!  I don't think that 5 of the justices recused themselves in total last term.