Supreme Court Still Dogged by Recusal Questions

After repeatedly rebuffing demands from Massey Energy Co., Justice Larry Starcher agreed Friday to recuse himself from one of its pending appeals.

But as The Associated Press reports, Starcher urged fellow Justice Brent Benjamin to do the same. "Starcher had cited the multimillion-dollar campaign bankrolled by Don Blankenship, Massey’s president, chairman and chief executive, to help Benjamin get elected in 2004," the article said.

(Massey targeted Starcher "over his public comments critical of Massey, Blankenship and his 2004 campaign," AP explains. "Among other remarks, Starcher has called Blankenship a 'clown' and said, 'Massey has not been good corporate citizen.'")

So far, Benjamin's only reaction has been to appoint a circuit judge to replace Starcher.

The pending appeal seeks to re-reverse the $76.3 million judgment won by Harman Mining Co. and its president, Hugh Caperton. The Supreme Court had vacated the underlying verdict in November - then erased that decision and agreed to rehear the case after the now-infamous photos surfaced showing Blankenship in sunny Monte Carlo with Chief Justice Elliott "Spike" Maynard.

The Monaco photos preceded Maynard's departure from the Harman case and two other Massey-related appeals. Starcher's Friday statement did not cover this other statements. The plaintiffs in one of them requested Benjamin's disqualification last week.

Defending a $240 million judgment they've won against Massey, Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel and Mountain State Carbon refer to The Appeal, the #1 best-seller by John Grisham apparently inspired by West Virginia's 2004 Supreme Court race.