Yesterday I linked to a fascinating Legal Intelligencer story about advertisements being run by a PAC reportedly funded by the Koch Brothers urging readers to support the Third Circuit nomination of Stephanos Bibas.

Yesteday evening, the ABA Journal posted a story by Stephanie Francis Ward following up on the Legal Intelligencer story. The ABA Journal story reports that prominent law professor Arthur Hellman thought it “unusual that interests groups would spend money on a federal appellate seat.”

Provocatively, the article also includes speculation about whether judges would have to recuse themselves from cases involving parties who had supported, or opposed, their nominations. Offhand, I’d think a rule that judges must recuse from any cases where a party opposed their nomination is a terrible idea. Imagine if the NRA opposed every Democratic judge nominee: would that mean their cases are decided only by Republican judges?