Well, Bless His Heart! (Meant in the Southern Way) ⃰

If you were to tell me that Samuel f%$#ing Alito would recuse himself on a climate change case because of his investments in energy companies, I would have responded with, "Very droll!"

Not this time.  He HAS recused himself from Suncor v. Boulder.

Call me a cynic, but my guess is that he got assurances from the other "Felonious Five," justices that they would vote his way before making this announcement.

I do not believe that Alito has even the vaguest concept of what legal ethics means.

He does not care.  He does not have to. He's a Supreme Court justice. 

Supreme court justice Samuel Alito recused himself on Monday from a major climate-change case after facing calls to step aside due to stock holdings in oil companies.

A letter posted in the case did not specify a reason, but the conservative justice has previously recused himself from other cases involving companies where he holds stock.

………

Alito had so far resisted calls to step aside in the case, which the court agreed to hear in February. He does not own stock in Suncor Energy and ExxonMobil but does have holdings in other oil companies such as ConocoPhillips and Phillips 66, according to his disclosures. The group Consumer Watchdog says that means he could indirectly benefit from a decision in the industry’s favor.

The group’s organizing director, Alexandra Nagy, pointed to the court’s recently adopted code of ethics, which says a justice should step aside if they or their families have a “subject matter or controversy”.

Ethics, schmethics.  This is optics, and the fix is in.

^*It means, "Go f%$# yourself!"