QUOTE
By David G. Savage / Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON -- Vice President Dick Cheney and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia spent part of last week duck hunting together at a private camp in south Louisiana just three weeks after the Supreme Court agreed to take up the vice president’s appeal in lawsuits over his handling of the administration’s energy task force.
....
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 is an expert on legal ethics.
....
Northwestern University law professor Steven Lubet, who teaches judicial ethics, said he was not convinced Scalia must withdraw from the Cheney case but that the trip 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.”
....
WASHINGTON -- Vice President Dick Cheney and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia spent part of last week duck hunting together at a private camp in south Louisiana just three weeks after the Supreme Court agreed to take up the vice president’s appeal in lawsuits over his handling of the administration’s energy task force.
....
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 is an expert on legal ethics.
....
Northwestern University law professor Steven Lubet, who teaches judicial ethics, said he was not convinced Scalia must withdraw from the Cheney case but that the trip 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.”
....
