Questions About Justice Can’t Be Ducked

Re “Scalia Was Cheney Hunt Trip Guest; Ethics Concern Grows,” Feb. 5: Thank you for your continued investigation of the murky details in the January duck hunting trip where Vice President Dick Cheney hosted Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Scalia makes two points, which leak like old duck blinds -- that his impartiality cannot reasonably be questioned and that he is able to separate Cheney’s official capacity from his personal capacity.

The appearance of impartiality must be from the perspective of the public and of historians. Scalia cannot and will not be the author of that opinion, but he does have the power to take the impartiality issue off the calendar by withdrawing from the case. Regarding Scalia’s ability to separate Cheney’s official capacity from his personal capacity, this very issue is at the heart of the Supreme Court case: Did Cheney allow his personal involvement in the petroleum industry and his personal campaign supporters from that industry to influence his development of a national energy program? An elected official who insists that he is not accountable to the public stinks just slightly less than a Supreme Court justice who insists on being the sole judge of his indiscretions.

Chris Chrisman

Los Angeles

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Recently I was called to jury duty in Orange County. When the trial judge found out that I was a retired attorney and knew both lawyers, I was dismissed. I didn’t know the parties to the case and had no interest in the outcome. Still dismissed.

Cheney (a litigant) invites Scalia (a jurist) to ride in a taxpayer jet and hunt ducks on land owned by an oilman, and Scalia and Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who know plenty about the Cheney case, see nothing wrong.

Am I missing something?

Bill Howard

Trabuco Canyon

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The Times is right when it reports that Scalia’s duck hunting trip to Louisiana as Cheney’s guest is a serious ethical breach. Could it be more serious than that? During the 1990s, three San Diego County Superior Court judges were convicted of felonies for accepting gifts from attorneys who appeared regularly in their courtrooms. Two of those judges served “hard time” as a result of those convictions. Scalia should recuse himself from hearing Cheney’s case, now pending before the Supreme Court. Moreover, Scalia should pay for his lavish duck hunting trip out of his own pocket.

Jerome P. Wallingford

Attorney, San Diego

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OK, so Scalia is in Cheney’s pocket. No surprise there, really. Although it must be cramped quarters, with “Justice” Clarence Thomas in there too! As far as Scalia hunting ducks with the vice president on the taxpayers’ dime? Metaphorically, it shows once again that it is the American people, not the moneyed few, who are the real sitting ducks in the sights of this administration.

Eugene Sison

San Dimas

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It can only be hoped that Cheney becomes a lame duck in November.

David Hagenson

Carpinteria