# If Obama becomes a SCOTUS member what would he have to recuse himself from hearing?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-obama-becomes-a-scotus-member-what-would-he-have-to-recuse-himself-from-hearing/769700
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 25, 2016, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-obama-becomes-a-scotus-member-what-would-he-have-to-recuse-himself-from-hearing/769700 "2016-10-25T17:42:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2016, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-obama-becomes-a-scotus-member-what-would-he-have-to-recuse-himself-from-hearing/769700/1 "2016-10-25T17:42:01Z")
Just curious. Does he have to recuse himself from all issues involving decisions he made as POTUS or just things he has a financial interest in?
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### Author:  [@sevenwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sevenwood)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2016, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-obama-becomes-a-scotus-member-what-would-he-have-to-recuse-himself-from-hearing/769700/2 "2016-10-25T17:57:25Z")
I don’t believe that any Supreme Court justice _ **has** _ to recuse him/herself from anything.
After all, who is anyone going to appeal that decision to?
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### Author:  [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2016, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-obama-becomes-a-scotus-member-what-would-he-have-to-recuse-himself-from-hearing/769700/3 "2016-10-25T18:54:02Z")
> [@sevenwood](#):
>
> I don’t believe that any Supreme Court justice _ **has** _ to recuse him/herself from anything.
>
> After all, who is anyone going to appeal that decision to?
The US Congress. [Samuel Chase](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Chase) was impeached for letting partisanship influence his decisions. The Senate acquitted him but there **is** a check to Supreme Court powers. So while justices don’t have to recuse themselves, they frequently do to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest, because it **can** have consequences.
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### Author:  [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2016, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-obama-becomes-a-scotus-member-what-would-he-have-to-recuse-himself-from-hearing/769700/4 "2016-10-25T21:01:42Z")
Here’s the Wikipedia [page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judicial_disqualification#Supreme_Court_cases) for SCoTUS recusals. Of course one can’t expect it be complete but it leaves out quite a few. E.g., Rehnquist on the Watergate tapes and it includes one case where Thomas did recuse himself but not far more controversial ones where he should have.
Rehnquist is the most famous member in recent times to have faced many questions of recusal. He had been an asst. AG in the Nixon admin and with all the criminal stuff going on, he ran into many potential conflicts. Even later, there were several, including one concerning Microsoft who had his son as a lawyer and he didn’t step back.
If you Google Rehnquist recusal, you’ll get lots of hits for various cases.
Obama would probably recuse himself on cases concerning questions about _his_ decisions, but not on those issues that were decided by other administration officials.
Or he could be like Clarence Thomas and generally ignore obvious conflicts. But that is doubtful.
Politically, just about every case before the court would have talk radio and whatnots claiming that Obama should recuse himself. But SCoTUS should ignore politics.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2016, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-obama-becomes-a-scotus-member-what-would-he-have-to-recuse-himself-from-hearing/769700/5 "2016-10-25T21:28:06Z")
It goes all the way back to John Marshall. He should have recused himself in the Marbury case. But he chose to hear the case and went on the write the decision. Since then, Supreme Court Justices have followed his example and have recused themselves or not on the basis of their own judgment.
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### Author:  [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2016, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-obama-becomes-a-scotus-member-what-would-he-have-to-recuse-himself-from-hearing/769700/6 "2016-10-25T22:03:05Z")
> [@ftg](#):
>
> … and it includes one case where Thomas did recuse himself but not far more controversial ones where he should have.
Not an accurate statement of fact.