When should a judge recuse herself? Justice Ginsberg puts her role in debate.

Recusal is when a judge "sits out" on a case that she would otherwise have heard. It can happen voluntarily - she decides that her interest in a case client would injure her impartiality, or involuntarily -- when an attorney for a party motions the court to recuse. It's part of due process, which means that a case should be heard by a fair an impartial judge.

Comments made by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in a magazine interview have reignited a long-simmering ethical debate confronting the Supreme Court over when a justice ought to sit out a case.

In a New Republic interview published Sunday, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was asked by legal scholar Jeffrey Rosen if state lawmakers could be trusted to safeguard abortion rights.

Article here.  (via WSJ lawblog).