Here’s a little peek behind the curtain of how my job works: If I’m writing about a specific subject, and I happen to have a connection with any of the people or organizations involved in what I’m writing about, I have to say so right there in the middle of the article. If I have a really serious connection to anyone I’m supposed to be writing about, I say “nope, sorry, can’t cover this story. I’m too close,” and then I respectfully bow out to let one of my colleagues with some distance take over. This is a fairly standard practice to avoid the even the appearance — much less the actual presence — of a conflict of interest. For the most part it works out very nicely for everyone involved.
For some reason, however, that no-brainer of a policy does not seem to hold true when it comes to the highest court in the land, and its ability to adjudicate on the very same issues that some of its members, it just so happens, are personally involved in. In fact, thanks to leaked audio first obtained by Rolling Stone, it now seems clear that several Supreme Court justices have evidently been rubbing elbows with some petitioners who had active cases before the court at the time.
