Antonin Scalia is President Bush’s favorite Supreme Court Justice, and it is easy to understand why. Justice Scalia figured prominently in the court’s decision to stop the Florida recount in the last presidential election—effectively awarding the presidency to Bush without bothering to count the votes.

Scalia was able to put aside his many years of support of state powers and suddenly decide that Florida was not capable of counting its votes. He didn’t care how bad it looked, as long as it served the greater good—the election of George W. Bush.

Now Justice Scalia is involved in another case where his behavior is raising ethical questions, and it looks like he is again prepared to stand fast and take some hits “for the team”.

• “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.”-- LA Times, 1/17/04

• ”At issue in the case, to be argued at the Supreme Court this spring, are allegations that energy industry executives and lobbyists were in on the Cheney meetings while environmentalists were shut out. The case is Cheney v. US District Court, 03-475.”-- AP, 2/24/04

• “[T]he plaintiffs -- the Sierra Club and Judicial Watch -- contend that 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.”-- LA Times, 1/17/04

This appearance of impropriety prompted an interesting exchange between Senators Leahy and Lieberman and Chief Justice Rehnquist as quoted in The Nation, 1/27/04:

• “When a sitting judge, poised to hear a case involving a particular litigant, goes on vacation with that litigant, reasonable people will question whether that judge can be a fair and impartial adjudicator of that man's case.”-- Senators Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT) and Joe Lieberman (D-CT)

• “Anyone at all is free to criticize the action of a justice — as to recusal or as to the merits — after the case has been decided. But I think that any suggestion by you or Senator Lieberman as to why a justice should recuse himself in a pending case is ill-considered.”-- Chief Justice Rehnquist [so, feel free to complain about a Justice’s unethical behavior, as long as you wait until it is too late to do any good.]

Twenty of the largest newspapers in the country have called for Justice Scalia to recuse himself, and his behavior has become the butt of jokes.

• ”Jay Leno on ‘The Tonight Show’ described an ‘embarrassing moment’ for Cheney when he visited the White House. ‘Security made him empty his pockets and out fell Justice Antonin Scalia!’...Leno also noted that the two officials were still pondering whether they had a conflict of interest. They would decide ‘as soon as Halliburton finishes construction on Justice Scalia's new house’.”-- LA Times, 2/24/04

• “[T]he Los Angeles Times reported details of a separate pheasant hunting trip to Kansas that Scalia took when the court was considering public policy appeals involving that state. The Kansas governor accompanied Scalia, flying to a hunting camp in November 2001 aboard a state plane, a trip arranged by University of Kansas School of Law Dean Stephen R. McAllister, who was the state's lawyer in the cases, the newspaper reported.”-- USA Today, 2/28/04 [Guess who won.]

• “What matters is not the reality of bias or prejudice but its appearance.”-- From a Supreme Court opinion written by none other than Justice Scalia in 1994

In the process of gathering material for this column, I discovered that Scalia should have recused himself from the Florida recount case because his son was a law partner of the attorney representing Mr. Bush; and Justice Thomas should have recused himself because his wife was already working on Bush’s transition team.

Simply put; Bush owes his presidency to unprincipled men who have been raised to high office, and he owes whatever remains of his popularity to ignorance of how he got there and what he has done to America.

Bush’s wars may end some day, and the economy may recover from the massive debt he has laid on us; but if Bush is reelected, he will probably have the opportunity to appoint two more Scalia-clones to the bench, and justice will be perverted for decades. That will be Bush’s true legacy.

American Politics at its lowest - how could someone vote for this man?

"In the process of gathering material for this column, I discovered that Scalia should have recused himself from the Florida recount case because his son was a law partner of the attorney representing Mr. Bush; and Justice Thomas should have recused himself because his wife was already working on Bush’s transition team. "

wheres Michael Moore when you need him?

OK, so..? and SO WHAT'S GOING ON IN YOUR COUNTRY?

For every article you can come up about GWB and the U.S.--given time and the inclination--I could find another, equally as bad about your government.

In case you haven't a clue Gent, it means maybe it's time you used your skills and talents on fighting Al-Quaeda and the terrorists, rather than constantly trying to gnaw away at the U.S.

Regardless of how you feel about G-P and the little back-and-forth games you are playing with him, the United States is your best friend in preserving YOUR way of life, protecting YOUR country--or would you rather have Osama as your best friend?

Gent, all of your posts seem to be directed at demoralizing Americans, shaming them, ridiculing them and the current administration. Just what do you think you're doing, MATE? What the ###### is your AGENDA? You obviously have one! Why not just come clean and share it with all of us? And don't hide behind the facade of "I love America but can't stand George Bush" shit!

This post is about how he cheated his way into office - great man eh!

shame!

mmm...

the truth is

wolves hunt in packs

haven't you heard it?

i'm surprised you didn't

they are all the same kind...

the biggest blame goes to the stupid

americans who choosen

not to stand up for their own country

and letting it go to the dogs...

same as for other countries...

the biggest blame goes to the stupid

americans who choosen

not to stand up for their own country

and letting it go to the dogs...

same as for other countries...

Great line, love it!