Explaining the unexplained recusals in Supreme Court orders

Since the justices of the Supreme Court do not explain their reasons for recusing themselves from certain cases (due to a perceived or actual conflict of interests), Fix the Court is trying to put the pieces together for you in a series we’re calling “Took No Part,” since the phrase used in Supreme Court orders noting a recusal is “Justice [X] took no part in the consideration or decision of this petition.”

This is the tenth post in a series; earlier installments are here.

TNPs from SCOTUS’s Apr. 20 orders:

14-965: AHMAD, NIZAM V. INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES
Result: Cert denied
Recused justice: Breyer
Presumed reason: Justice Breyer indicated in his most recently available financial disclosure report that he owns shared of IBM’s stock.

14-8694: PAKES, MILAN P. V. FRAUENHEIM, WARDEN
Result: Cert denied
Recused justice: Breyer
Presumed reason: This case originates from northern California, where Justice Breyer’s brother is a federal judge.

14-8734: CLEAVER, JAMES F. V. MAYE, WARDEN and 14-8835: BEANE, JAY V. UNITED STATES
Result: Cert denied
Recused justice: Kagan
Presumed reason: Unclear. The cases against Cleaver, a federal prisoner serving a 400-month prison term in Kansa for destroying government property by fire, and Beane, in prison for dealing crack cocaine, were compiled while Justice Kagan was serving as U.S. solicitor general, so she may have been involved in those proceedings at the time.

14-8886: FULLER, SHELDON V. UNITED STATES
Result: Cert denied
Recused justice: Sotomayor
Presumed reason: This case was initially filed in the same district where Justice Sotomayor served as a federal judge before she was appointed to the high court in 2009.

14-8931: SHELTON, MONTY M. V. UNITED STATES
Result: Cert denied
Recused justice: Kagan
Presumed reason: Unclear. The case against Shelton was compiled while Justice Kagan was serving as U.S. solicitor general, so she may have been involved in those proceedings at the time.

14-9022: TRAN, LAN NGOC V. UNITED STATES
Result: Cert denied
Recused justice: Sotomayor
Presumed reason: This case was initially filed in the same district where Justice Sotomayor served as a federal judge before she was appointed to the high court in 2009.

14-7637: HERNANDEZ, TODD A. V. UNITED STATES
Result: Rehearing denied
Recused justice: Kagan
Presumed reason: See here.