Re: ~e; Cheney's Supreme Court Justice

[revitts@revitts.com]

wow, this is an amazing report.  it would be interesting to know who the other 
seven participants in the hunting weekend were, besides cheney and scalia.  
and i agree with brian, common/general ethics would require scalia to recuse 
himself from this deliberation, his hair-splitting distinction of "reasonably" 
is laughable and deplorable.

Quoting human being <human@electronetwork.org>:

> regarding the .US Energy Task Force investigation:
> after falling off my chair reading this, it was thought
> this surprise gift from the news could be shared to
> offer some context to the invisible goings-on of the
> .US Energy Task Force process and papers which
> are going to be up-for-review by the Supreme Court
> of the United States of America, at the same time the
> related events of Enron's role in designing this public
> policy (and, possibly, much more) with Ken Lay's role
> as an unprosecuted figurehead of three years now to
> be brought into relation to Andrew Fastow's plea deal
> for 98 counts of fraud, which may get to bigger fish in
> the Enron events yet dealt with-- that the story below,
> and VP Cheney's intimate role in all things energetic,
> to be meeting with a Supreme Court Justice (Scalia)
> while the .US Energy Task Force is up for review in-
> front of the .US Supreme Court to release papers,
> and that this 'hunting trip' which produced little fowl,
> was held on the lands of an 'oil-services company'
> friend, also potentially related to .US Energy Task
> Force conflicts of interest, is- to be generous- totally
> outlandish to give further benefit of the doubt of no
> improprieties to influence process in such maneuvers.
> The only thing that could be done, it would seem,  is
> that Justice Scalia recuses himself from the review
> and decision of all .US Energy Task Force issues...
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Scalia trip with Cheney raises eyebrows
> 
> Justice to hear case of energy task force
> 
> By David G. Savage, Los Angeles Times, 1/18/2004
> 
> <http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2004/01/18/ 
> scalia_trip_with_cheney_raises_eyebrows/>
> 
>       WASHINGTON -- Vice President Dick Cheney and Supreme Court Justice  
> Antonin Scalia spent part of last week duck hunting at a private camp  
> in southern Louisiana, three weeks after the Supreme Court had agreed  
> to take up the vice president's appeal in lawsuits over his handling of  
> the administration's energy task force. While Scalia and Cheney are  
> avid hunters and longtime friends, several legal ethics specialists  
> questioned the timing of their trip, and said it raised doubts about  
> Scalia's ability to judge the case impartially.
> 
>    Scalia said Friday: "I do not think my impartiality could reasonably  
> be questioned."
> 
> Federal law says: "Any justice or judge shall disqualify himself in any  
> proceeding in which his impartiality might be questioned."
> 
> For almost three years, Cheney has been fighting demands that he reveal  
> whether he met with energy industry officials, including the chairman  
> of Enron at the time, Kenneth L. Lay, when Cheney was formulating the  
> president's energy policy.
> 
> A lower court has ruled that Cheney must turn over documents detailing  
> who met with his task force, but on Dec. 15, the Supreme Court  
> announced it would hear an appeal. The justices are due to hear  
> arguments in April "in re Richard B. Cheney."
> 
> In a written response to an inquiry from the Los Angeles Times about  
> the hunting trip, Scalia said: "Cheney was indeed among the party of  
> about nine who hunted from the camp. Social contacts with high-level  
> executive officials (including Cabinet officers) have never been  
> thought improper for judges who may have before them cases in which  
> those people are involved in their official capacity, as opposed to  
> their personal capacity. For example, Supreme Court justices are  
> regularly invited to dine at the White House, whether or not a suit  
> seeking to compel or prevent certain presidential action is pending."
> 
> Cheney does not face a personal penalty in the pending lawsuits. He  
> could not be forced to pay damages, for example.
> 
> But the suits are not routine disputes about the powers of Cheney's  
> office. The plaintiffs, the Sierra Club and Judicial Watch, say Cheney  
> and his staff violated an open-government measure known as the Federal  
> Advisory Committee Act by meeting behind closed doors with outside  
> lobbyists for the oil, gas, coal, and nuclear industries.
> 
> A New York University law professor, Stephen Gillers, said Scalia  
> should have skipped going hunting with Cheney this year.
> 
> "A judge may have a friendship with a lawyer, and that's fine. But if  
> the lawyer has a case before the judge, they don't socialize until it's  
> over. That shows a proper respect for maintaining the public's  
> confidence in the integrity of the process," said Gillers, who  
> specializes in legal ethics. "I think Justice Scalia should have been  
> cognizant of that and avoided contact with the vice president until  
> this was over. And this is not like a dinner with 25 or 30 people. This  
> is a hunting trip, where you are together for a few days."
> 
> The pair arrived Jan. 5 and were guests of Wallace Carline, the owner  
> of Diamond Services Corp. an oil services company in Amelia, La. The  
> Associated Press in Morgan City, La., reported the trip on the day the  
> vice president and his entourage departed.
> 
> "They asked us not to bring cameras out there," said Sheriff David  
> Naquin, who serves St. Mary Parish, 90 miles southwest of New Orleans,  
> referring to the request for privacy. "The vice president and the  
> justice were there for a relaxing trip."
> 
> While the local police were told about Cheney's trip shortly before his  
> arrival, they were told to keep it a secret, Naquin said.
> 
> "The justice had been here several times before. I'm kind of sorry  
> Cheney picked that week because it was a poor shooting week," Naquin  
> said. "There weren't many ducks here, which is unusual for this time of  
> the year."
> 
> Scalia agreed with the sheriff's assessment.
> 
> "The duck hunting was lousy. Our host said that in 35 years of duck  
> hunting on this lease, he had never seen so few ducks," the justice  
> said in his written response to the Times. "I did come back with a few  
> ducks, which tasted swell."
> 
> Northwestern University law professor Steven Lubet, who teaches  
> judicial ethics, said that he was not convinced Scalia must withdraw  
> from the Cheney case, but that the trip had raised a number of  
> questions.
> 
> "It's not clear this requires disqualification, but there are not  
> separate rules for longtime friends," he said. "This is not like a  
> lawyer going on a fishing trip with a judge. A lawyer is one step  
> removed. Cheney is the litigant in this case. The question is whether  
> the justice's hunting partner did something wrong. And the whole  
> purpose of these rules is to ensure the appearance of impartiality in  
> regard to the litigants before the court."
> 
> The code of conduct for federal judges sets guidelines for members of  
> the judiciary, but it does not set clear-cut rules. "A judge should . .  
> . act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the  
> integrity and impartiality of the judiciary," it says. "A judge should  
> not allow family, social or other relationships to influence judicial  
> conduct or judgments . . . or permit others to convey the impression  
> that they are in a special position to influence the judge."
> 
> In the lower courts, litigants may ask a judge to step aside. And if  
> the request is refused, they may appeal to a higher court.
> 
> © Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.
> 
> http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2004/01/18/ 
> scalia_trip_with_cheney_raises_eyebrows/
> 
> Educational Fair Use of Copyright, Electronetwork.org
> (education, energy, public policy, politics, economics, government,  
> justice)
>   the electromagnetic internetwork-list
>   electromagnetism / infrastructure / civilization
>   archives.openflows.org/electronetwork-l
>   http://www.electronetwork.org/list/


  the electromagnetic internetwork-list
  electromagnetism / infrastructure / civilization
  archives.openflows.org/electronetwork-l
  http://www.electronetwork.org/list/