Conflicts of interest in Bush v. Gore: Did some justices vote illegally?

140. Id. at 28. Baseball sought a judge to serve as commissioner to clean up its image after the Black Sox bribery scandal over the 1919 World Series. Although he had a mercurial personality and often exercised terrible judgment, Landis had a physical appearance that suggested the opposite: patience, dignity, carefulness, wisdom. He was hired as baseball commissioner while still a federal judge and served in both positions for a time, earning annual salaries of $7,500 as a judge and $50,000-a huge sum at the time-as commissioner. DAVID PIETRUSZA, JUDGE AND JURY: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JUDGE KENESAW MOUNTAIN LANDIS 195 (1998). This caused public outrage. The American Bar Association voted to condemn his conduct, and the House Judiciary Committee started an investigation that could have ended with his impeachment, as a result of which Landis resigned from the bench. Id. at 195-208. He served as baseball commissioner until 1944.

141. Berger, 255 U.S. at 40.

142. Id. at 36.

143. Id. at 37-42.

144. 273 U.S. 510.

145. 349 U.S. 133.

146. 409 U.S. 57.

147. 411 U.S. at 578-79.

148. 475 U.S. 813.

149. Bravin, supra note 3, at A1.

150. Id. By letter dated July 8, 2002, I invited Justice Thomas to comment on this quotation and on the ones appearing in the text at notes 151, 154, and 183, infra, but he would not do so.

151. Christopher Marquis, Contesting the Vote: Challenging a Justice: Job of Thomas's Wife Raises Conflict-of-Interest Questions, N.Y. TIMES, Dec. 12, 2000, at A26. The Times story also included comments from Judge Gilbert S. Merritt of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit:

"The spouse has obviously got a substantial interest that could be affected by the outcome," he said in an interview from his home in Nashville. . . . Judge Merritt . . . has long association with the Gore family and was considered a leading contender for the Supreme Court early in the Clinton Administration . . . .

Judge Merritt offered his views about Justice Thomas after someone in the Gore campaign provided The New York Times with his name and telephone number. Judge Merritt said he had had no direct contact with the Gore campaign.

The following day, the Times printed the following "correction":

In its 12th paragraph, the article said that the federal judge who raised the conflict question was an associate of Vice President Al Gore's family, and the 14th paragraph reported that The Times had been directed to that judge by "someone in the Gore campaign." The partisan nature of the source should have been made clear more promptly and reflected in attribution in the headline. The headline's plural reference to "questions" exceeded the facts of the article. The article quoted Mrs. Thomas as saying that her transition efforts were nonpartisan, not on behalf of the Bush organization. But those comments . . . appeared only in the latest New York regional editions.

Correction, N. Y. TIMES, Dec. 13, 2000, at A02.

152. Nationally, it was reported in the New York Times and Time magazine. Cohen, supra note 6, at 76; Paul Krugmun, Reckonings; In the Tank?, N.Y. TIMES, Dec. 13, 2000, at A35. Anderson & Conn, supra note 6, at AA04; Helen Thomas, Winners and Losers, DENVER POST, Dec. 24, 2000, at H2. Other examples include Political Briefs, DALLAS MORNING NEWS, Dec. 12, 2000, at 17A; Rekha Basu, Election Was Settled by Manipulation, Not Divine Intervention, DES MOINES REG., Dec. 15, 2000, at 23A; William Carlsen, Court Fallout: Prospective Justices May Face Struggle, S.F. CHRON., Dec. 14, 2000, at A16; Arianna Huffington, Supreme Court Doesn't Look So Wise to Many Americans, DALLAS MORNING NEWS, Dec. 17, 2000, at 5J; Robert L. Jackson, Decision 2000/America Waits, L.A. TIMES, Dec. 13, 2000, at A25; Kirk Loggins & John Shiffman, Supreme Court's Decision to Stop Recount Spurs Ethical, Political Debate, THE TENNESSEAN (Nashville), Dec. 14, 2000, at 1A; David Nyhan, Lady Luck Is Following George W., BOSTON GLOBE, Dec. 13, 2000, at A27; Saletan, supra note 8, at B7; Willard, supra note 8, at 5A.