# In America, what happens when an entire court recuses itself?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-what-happens-when-an-entire-court-recuses-itself/566776
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [January 7, 2011, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-what-happens-when-an-entire-court-recuses-itself/566776 "2011-01-07T19:37:21Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2011, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-what-happens-when-an-entire-court-recuses-itself/566776/1 "2011-01-07T19:37:21Z")
In [this post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=13323942&postcount=24), **Really Not All That Bright** suggests that the entire US Supreme Court should have recused itself.Leaving aside the why of that thread entirely, what, in the US, happens in that sort of case? Obviously if a lower level court recuses itself, the issue can be bumped up to a higher level, but there’s nothing higher than the Supreme Court. Or does the Constitution provide for this?
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### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2011, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-what-happens-when-an-entire-court-recuses-itself/566776/2 "2011-01-07T19:47:29Z")
I’ve emailed the U.K. Supreme Court to find out what we do.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2011, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-what-happens-when-an-entire-court-recuses-itself/566776/3 "2011-01-07T20:04:06Z")
There’s nothing in the US Constitution that addresses this issue. AFAIK, it’s never happened, so we’ll have to wait until it does.
WAG, since the Supreme Court decides which cases to try, they would just not take up the case, letting the lower court ruling stand.
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### Author:  [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2011, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-what-happens-when-an-entire-court-recuses-itself/566776/4 "2011-01-07T20:13:56Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> WAG, since the Supreme Court decides which cases to try, they would just not take up the case, letting the lower court ruling stand.
Well, that would not work in cases of original jurisdiction.
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### Author:  [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2011, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-what-happens-when-an-entire-court-recuses-itself/566776/5 "2011-01-07T20:16:19Z")
On a more local level, I have seen situations where all of the judges in a particular district recused themselves. In that instance, it was necessary to file a request with the State Supreme Court to appoint a judge to hear the case. They keep a list of retired/“Senior Status” judges for that purpose. It’s a real pain to litigate something with a judge from out of town–scheduling issues–even for a usable courtroom, travel costs may be an issue, etc.
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### Author:  [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2011, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-what-happens-when-an-entire-court-recuses-itself/566776/6 "2011-01-07T20:34:34Z")
> [@](#):
>
> All seven California Supreme Court justices recused themselves today from a dispute over the sale of state buildings, including the building that houses the Supreme Court.
[http://legalpad.typepad.com/my\_weblog/2010/12/supreme-court-recuses-itself-on-building-sale.html](http://legalpad.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/12/supreme-court-recuses-itself-on-building-sale.html)
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### Author:  [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2011, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-what-happens-when-an-entire-court-recuses-itself/566776/7 "2011-01-07T20:43:28Z")
Something quite like it happened in [U.S. v. Alcoa](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Alcoa), where the Court could not assemble a quorum because of too many recusals. It referred the matter to the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2011, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-what-happens-when-an-entire-court-recuses-itself/566776/8 "2011-01-07T20:44:21Z")
> [@Schnitte](#):
>
> Well, that would not work in cases of original jurisdiction.
True, but since those are rare to begin with, the chances of that happening is nil.
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### Author:  [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2011, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-what-happens-when-an-entire-court-recuses-itself/566776/9 "2011-01-07T21:54:42Z")
> [@Oakminster](#):
>
> On a more local level, I have seen situations where all of the judges in a particular district recused themselves. In that instance, it was necessary to file a request with the State Supreme Court to appoint a judge to hear the case. They keep a list of retired/“Senior Status” judges for that purpose. It’s a real pain to litigate something with a judge from out of town–scheduling issues–even for a usable courtroom, travel costs may be an issue, etc.
Yeah, I was involved in a county-level case last year in which I was suing someone for business purposes. Because I know as friends and have campaigned with the two sitting Common Pleas judges they both recused themselves and a judge from another county took the case.
We settled, but Oak is right. Scheduling was a bear.