JANUARY 25, 2012
Kagan disqualification still at issue in Obamacare case
Supreme Court denies Freedom Watch request to speak at oral argument
On January 23, 2012, Larry Klayman (l), the founder of Freedom Watch and before that Judicial Watch, and a former candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2004 in Florida, issued the following statement with regard to the Supreme Court’s ruling that he could not participate in oral argument in the Obamacare case:
“The Supreme Court’s ruling today did not ‘rule’ on the requested recusal or disqualification of Justice Elena Kagan. Freedom Watch’s amicus curiae brief remains squarely in front of the court. Instead the Supreme Court denied my request to participate in oral argument. Apparently, the Supreme Court thinks it will be embarrassed if it, in effect, allows the American people to speak and wants to quietly sweep the issue of its own ethics and respect for the law under the table.
“In Freedom Watch’s amicus brief, I stressed that the Supreme Court must adhere to the rules of ethics that apply to other federal judges, contrary to the position taken by Chief Justice Roberts, who stated in his annual report, speaking for all of the justices, that they are not so bound and will not sit in judgment of themselves. In effect, Roberts declared that all of the justices are above the law.
“This attitude is a formula for revolution, I wrote, because if the judicial system acts as if it is nobility and is not accountable to ‘We the People,’ then we are living in a time more akin to 1776 than today’s world. This is why the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street movements have sprung up. The people are simply fed up that their grievances are not being heard.
“Thus, while Freedom Watch’s request, in writing, to have Justice Kagan recuse herself or be disqualified by the other justices remains pending, the Supreme Court’s decision today to exclude me from oral argument is predictable, but very troubling. Apparently, the justices are circling the wagons and walling themselves off not just from the rule of law, but the rest of the country. They are like the three monkeys, ‘See No Evil, Hear No Evil, and Do No Evil,’ multiplied by three. They are in denial and neither want to publicly face the law or reality.
“The justices work for us, and the Supreme Court is the people’s court, not the justices’ court. Accordingly, I hope that they will sober up and do the right thing and disqualify Justice Kagan from sitting on the Obamacare case, as she has a textbook conflict of interest given her involvement in the drafting of, and supporting, the legislation, while she was an official of the Obama administration at the Department of Justice.”
Freedom Watch’s amicus brief can be found at www.freedomwatchusa.org. Mr. Klayman can be contacted at [email protected].
