Scalia Refusing to Take Himself Off Cheney Case: "Justice Scalia said it was not improper that he hunted ducks in Louisiana with Mr. Cheney in January, just three weeks after the court agreed to consider the case.
Justice Scalia not only justified his participation in the case, he also disclosed new details of the trip. 'I never hunted in the same blind with the vice president,' he wrote.
He also recounted other cases in which presidents and justices socialized without concerns about appearance. Citing historical accounts, he wrote of a time when Justice Harlan F. Stone 'tossed around a medicine ball with members of the Hoover administration mornings outside the White House,' and when Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson 'played poker with President Truman.' And who could forget those days when Justice John Marshall Harlan and his wife sang hymns at the White House with President Rutherford B. Hayes or when Justice Byron R. White skied in Colorado with Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy? "

This is pathetic. Did any of these justices hear cases which allege impropriety on the part of the person that they were taking a trip/skiing/playing poker with? That's the issue here. Scalia is going to hear the case of a man who is accused of misusing executive privilege, to hide the improper influence of energy companies.

He should be removed from his position, because he clearly cannot see the public interest.
- posted by geoff @ #