Speaking at a book signing in Washington, Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett admitted she's scared to reveal why she's recusing herself, Politico's Josh Gerstein wrote on Thursday.
While some justices have refused to recuse themselves when there is a possible conflict, Coney Barrett didn't recuse herself until May of this year.
At an event hosted by SCOTUS Blog in Washington, Coney Barrett explained, “There are costs,” to explaining her recusal.
In the case of the May recusal, there was a conflict that was already public. Others may not be.
In cases that are "more nuanced," Politico characterized, the conflicts might not be as obvious and can be related to friends or family with "deeply held convictions."
She went on to reveal that there were family members of hers that have received pizzas they didn't order. The pizzas are being sent to judges and those connected to them as an indication that someone knows who they are and where they live. Some of the pizzas are sent under the name Daniel Anderl, the son of a judge, who was shot and killed when an assassin tried to shoot his mother.
Judge Esther Salas relayed the story to MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace when the pizza orders began popping up around the country. Coney Barrett's sister was one of those targeted in March.
Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito have spouses deeply entrenched in partisan politics or conservative causes.
“That’s a tricky standard,” Barrett said. “If you identify reasons, you have to do it across the board, right?”
Bumatay’s question about recusals was triggered by Barrett’s recusal last year from a high-profile case about the constitutionality of religious charter schools. Barrett is believed to have recused due to her friendship with an adviser to organizers of the Oklahoma school involved in the high court case. With Barrett absent, the justices deadlocked, 4-4, keeping in place a ruling denying state funding to the school, but leaving the broader legal issues unresolved.
Another question involved the idea of characterizing her as a "swing justice," but Coney Barrett "recoiled" at the idea, Politico reported.
“A swing justice — that makes it sound like you sort of are swinging back and forth and you can’t make up your mind,” Barrett said. “It’s not like I’m thinking about an outcome and then trying to figure out a way to get there. I’m just kind of playing it straight. … I don’t think of myself as a swing justice.”
Coney Barrett also acknowledged that she finds it "very frustrating" when people talk about "the Trump relationship" she has because he appointed her rather than the case itself.
"I'm nobody's justice!" she said earlier this month.
