Judged

Recently, I critiqued comments made by Michael Whitehead about the upcoming appeals court hearing on the Missouri Baptist Convention's case against Windermere Baptist Conference Center. I also hinted that maybe Whitehead was confident because he once again thought he had a friend on the bench. However, a recent Word&Way article reports that the judge with close ties to Whitehead has been recused from the case. The judge previously was a law partner with Whitehead for over a decade and they have known each other for more than three decades. The excellent Word&Way article also notes some of the conflicts of interest that two of the three appeals court judges had the last time the case was at that level (connections I previously detailed in an Ethics Daily article). At least this time the judge in question will not hear or rule on the case.