Dahlia Lithwick opines that, "calls for Elena Kagan to recuse herself from the Obamacare case are ridiculous." As I had noted in the previous post by Monroe Freedman, I don't believe that Justice Kagan's email provided grounds for recusal. But there is a second asserted ground, namely, that Justice Kagan allegedly participated on the matter while she was Solicitor General. The debate on that issue (which, in my view, Lithwick mostly sidesteps with strawman arguments) asks whether Kagan "served in governmental employment and in such capacity participated as counsel, adviser or material witness concerning the proceeding or expressed an opinion concerning the merits of the particular case in controversy." (28 U.S.C. §455(b)(3))

Debate continues on recusals of Justices Thomas, Scalia, and Kagan (and no knock-out blows have yet been thrown)