Not exact matches
Although he said in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that independent spending does «not give rise to corruption or the
appearance of corruption,» Justice Kennedy authored a ruling in Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Co. that mining company executive Don Blankenship's $ 3 million in independent spending for a West Virginia justice gave rise to an unconstitutional «risk
of actual bias» in a lawsuit against the company.
We are not suggesting that there was any impropriety in the proceedings but, as the Court
of Appeal has stressed, there can be the
appearance of bias without any
actual bias.
Judicial disqualification is warranted if the judge is actually
biased or prejudiced or if the judge, based on objective and reasonable perceptions, has either a serious risk
of actual bias impacting the due process rights
of a party or has failed to adhere to the
appearance of impropriety standard set forth in Canon 2
of the Michigan Code
of Judicial Conduct.