This recusal is nothing more than a ploy. Not to say that she shouldn’t need to recuse herself for reasons the article mentions, she does.
But, how this plays out once the obamacare case rolls around she’ll point back to this case and be able to say that she knows when to recuse herself, isn’t afraid to do it, shows she will when she sees fit, then decline to do so for the obamacare case.
Actually, it may be more of a White House strategy.
From this article on Townhall yesterday, SCOTUS Will Hear Case of Arizona Immigration Law, Kagan Recuses:
This opens up the possibility of a 4-4 tie, which would uphold the appellate court's ruling in favor of the Obama administration -- thus, for Arizona to win, the Court must rule 5-3.It's interesting to note that her recusal means slightly less in this case than it does in the healthcare case, which she will hear. Because the lower court's ruling in the immigration law case favored the Obama administration, the tie would uphold the ruling -- a vote Kagan would likely cast as well. However, in the healthcare case, the Florida ruling overturned the Affordable Care Act. Thus, if Kagan recused, and the Court tied, Obamacare would be deemed unconstitutional.
They are playing a numbers game, stacking the odds in Obama's favor, a "heads I win, tails you lose" scenario.
For Arizona, a 4-4 goes to Obama. For ObamaCare, they need Kagan's vote, because a 4-4 overturns ObamaCare, meaning that Kagan can't recuse.
-PJ