WASHINGTON — Conflicts of interest on the U.S. Supreme Court led four of nine justices to remove themselves from an important apartheid case today, forcing more than 30 major corporations to defend lawsuits accusing them of supporting South Africa’s former racial policies. Three of the judges hold shares in companies named in the suits, and the son of Justice Anthony Kennedy is a banker for one of the companies. They all removed themselves from the case, leaving the bench one justice short of a quorum. At least six of the Supreme Court’s nine judges are required by federal law to rule on an appealed case. So the Supreme Court today let stand a federal appeals court decision that said the companies “aided and abetted” apartheid policies that violated international law. The people suing the companies, who include South Africans who claim to have been tortured or have family members who were murdered, are seeking more than $400 billion in compensation. The case suggests more conflicts of interest could emerge on the Supreme Court, where seven of the justices are millionaires, according to annual financial disclosure reports. Only Justices Clarence Thomas and Kennedy reported assets worth less than $1 million, not including their homes. The justices who removed themselves from the South African apartheid case because of their stock investments were Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. and Justices Stephen Breyer and Samuel Alito. The companies being sued include Hewlett-Packard Co., whose stock is owned by Mr. Roberts; Exxon Mobil Corp. and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., whose stock is owned by Mr. Alito; and Bank of America Corp., International Business Machines Corp., Colgate-Palmolive Co., and Nestle SA, whose stock is owned by Mr. Breyer.
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