New brief on Benjamin turned aside
on Mar 20, 2009 at 10:55 am
A late attempt to reinforce a claim that the chief justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court is not biased failed on Friday when the Supreme Court denied permission to file a new brief on the issue. Attorneys for A.T. Massey Coal Co., Inc., on March 3 had filed a motion to file a supplemental brief in Caperton v. Massey Coal (08-22) — a case the Justices heard that day testing whether the Due Process Clause sets a standard for recusal of judges. There was no explanation for rejecting the brief.
In it, Massey’s counsel sought to lay before the Justices a “press release detailing [Chief] Justice [Brent] Benjamin’s voting history in matters involving Massey Energy Co. and its affiliates.” That history, the brief contended, bears on the issue of whether there was a probability of bias based on the large sums of money spent by a Massey executive to defeat Benjamin’s election opponent.
The news release can be found here.
Further orders acted upon by the Court at its Friday Conference are expected to be released at 10 a.m. next Monday.
