Scalia Was Cheney Hunt Trip Guest; Ethics Concern Grows

[Q]

Published on Thursday, February 5, 2004 by the Los Angeles Times

Scalia Was Cheney Hunt Trip Guest; Ethics Concern Grows

by David G. Savage and Richard A. Serrano

 
PATTERSON, La. — Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia traveled as an official guest of Vice President Dick Cheney on a small government jet that served as Air Force Two when the pair came here last month to hunt ducks.

The revelation cast further doubts about whether Scalia can be an impartial judge in Cheney's upcoming case before the Supreme Court, legal ethics experts said. The hunting trip took place just weeks after the high court agreed to take up Cheney's bid to keep secret the details of his energy policy task force. According to those who met them at the small airstrip here, the justice and the vice president flew from Washington on Jan. 5 and were accompanied by a second, backup Air Force jet that carried staff and security aides to the vice president.

Two military Black Hawk helicopters were brought in and hovered nearby as Cheney and Scalia were whisked away in a heavily guarded motorcade to a secluded, private hunting camp owned by an oil industry businessman.

The Times previously reported that the two men hunted ducks together while the case was pending, but it wasn't clear then that they had traveled together or that Scalia had accompanied Cheney on Air Force Two. Several experts in legal ethics questioned whether Scalia should decide the case.

"In my view, this further ratchets it up. If the vice president is the source of generosity, it means Scalia is accepting a gift of some value from a litigant in a case before him," said New York University law professor Stephen Gillers.

"It is not just a trip with a litigant. It's a trip at the expense of the litigant. This is an easy case for stepping aside."

Continues: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0205-02.htm

[Q]

1. Yet another conflict of interest...

- When will the media...and Americans...wake the hell up?

- It seems that the Bush* government continues to act as if it is above the law.

[BeFree]

2. Q,Q,Q,Q

Q...what the hell do you mean "it seems"? You know, I know, hell, my dog knows these bastards are acting like royalists.

All the law professors and the like, must be grinding their teeth over this outright act of partnership. And who knew Cheney and Scalia were Log Cabin Republicans?

[maggrwaggr]

3. let me get this straight --

Dick Cheney flys around the country like a rock star whenever the fuck he wants, giving his friends free rides and taking them on animal slaughters ....

and it's all paid for by You and Me Taxpayer?

What the bloody fucking hell is THAT?

[Generic Other]

5. Remember when the FBI investigated Gore for using the office phone?

I see the rules have been relaxed a bit since those days.

[BillZBubb]

4. I'm shocked, shocked, I tell you!

How could anyone question the ethics of Scalia and Cheney? Haven't they already proven they have none?