Supreme Court Conservatives Are Less Likely to Explain Recusals

US Supreme Court conservatives, unlike their liberal colleagues, routinely decline to explain why they recuse from cases nearly a full term after all of the justices embraced a code of conduct aimed at improving transparency.

Chief Justice John Roberts and the other conservatives in the court’s majority opted out of hearing matters more than 60 times since mid-November while liberals cited the code in about 20 instances, an analysis of court data shows. Recusals mostly occurred in petitions denied review and included in public orders.

The liberals’ short explanations typically cite the federal recusal law and the ethics code provision. ...