For once capitalism has shot itself in the foot...

So there is a case in federal courts where some South Africans are suing American corporations (including Citigroup, General Electric, I.B.M., General Motors and ExxonMobil) for wrongs suffered under apartheid. The case was thrown out in 2004 and reinstated by the 2nd circuit court in October. The corporations (and needless to say, the Bush administration) want the case thrown back out. But the problem is that an unprecedented number of justices had to recuse themselves: 4. Why? Because 3 (Alito, Breyer, Roberts) own stock in some of the companies and one (Kennedy) has a son who works for Credit Suisse. So that is not enough justices. The suit stands and there is much rejoicing.
I have to admit I think this says a lot about the state of things in the world. Full story here.