A reader asks Professor Bainbridge whether Harriet Miers should resign as White House counsel because of the risk that further actions as White House counsel could lead to further recusal issues down the road on the Court. As a practical matter, I doubt she’s doing much counseling at the moment, so this is somewhat theoretical, but it would probably be prudent to take a formal leave of absence (sitting judges, of course, don’t step down for a more practical reason: they don’t want to give up their current life-tenured jobs).