Justice who duck-hunted with Cheney rejects impartiality allegation

UNITED States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia yesterday refused to remove himself from a case about Vice-President Dick Cheney’s energy task force and insisted that his impartiality could not be questioned, despite their recent duck-hunting trip.

"Since I do not believe my impartiality can reasonably be questioned, I do not think it would be proper for me to recuse," he said in a 21-page memorandum which was released by the high court.

The Sierra Club environmental group, which sued Cheney for the task force papers, had filed a motion asking that Scalia be disqualified from the case because the January trip had created an appearance of impropriety.

According to the motion, Scalia was Cheney's guest on Air Force Two on a January 5 flight to Louisiana. Cheney and Scalia were guests of the president of an energy services company on a duck-hunting vacation.

"The vice-president and I were never in the same blind and never discussed the case," Scalia said, referring to a shelter used to conceal duck hunters.

"Nor was I alone with him at any time during the trip, except, perhaps for instances so brief and unintentional that I would not recall them walking to or from a boat, perhaps, or going to or from dinner."

"Of course, we said not a word about the present case," said Scalia.

Cheney is being sued by the Sierra Club and another group.

They want him to release documents about White House contacts with the energy industry in 2001. The vice-president has appealed the Supreme Court ruling ordering him to produce the documents.

Scalia said the flight down to Louisiana cost the government nothing, because space was available on the plane. Scalia, who went with his son and son-in-law, said they did not come back with Cheney and had bought round-trip tickets.