Fix the Court executive director Gabe Roth released this statement following the D.C. Circuit’s decision, over the U.S. Department of Justice objection, upholding the proposed AT&T-Time Warner merger:

The Justice Department now faces an uphill battle at the Supreme Court, not only because the agency lost today, but also because it would likely appear before an even number of justices, since Chief Justice Roberts owns up to $500,000 in Time-Warner shares, meaning he’d be recused from this case.

Complex suits like these, which call for a bright-line ruling from our nation’s top jurists, demonstrate yet another reason why the justices should divest from individual stocks and instead focus on investments less likely to lead to recusal.