Justice Kagan Recused from 21 Cases

She’s been harangued for everything from her sexual orientation to the way she dresses, and now, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan is hearing it once again. Ashby Jones of The Wall Street Journal’s Law Blog reports that Kagan will be recusing herself from 10 more cases to be argued in the upcoming term, bringing the total number of Supreme Court cases sans Kagan to 21—more than half of the 40 cases that will be heard before the Court. The reasoning goes that as U.S. solicitor general, Kagan’s already advocated on many of the cases, which presents a conflict of interest. During her confirmation this summer, Kagan said she would recuse herself from just 11 cases, but has now decided that she will recuse herself from cases in which she was only involved in the early stages, and for which her office never formally offered up an opinion.