Scalia Says He’ll Stay on Cheney Court Case

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, a combative conservative known for his tough talk on and off the bench, isn’t backing down in the face of criticism that he should stay out of a case involving his friend and hunting partner, Vice President Dick Cheney.

The two men went on a duck hunting trip last month, three weeks after the court agreed to hear a White House appeal in a case involving private meetings of the vice president’s energy task force. Critics said the trip raised questions about Scalia’s impartiality in the case.

Scalia told a gathering Tuesday night at Amherst College in Massachusetts that there was nothing improper about the trip and nothing about the case that made it a conflict for him.

“It did not involve a lawsuit against Dick Cheney as a private individual,” Scalia said in response to a question from the audience of about 600 people. “This was a government issue. It’s acceptable practice to socialize with executive branch officials when there are not personal claims against them. That’s all I’m going to say for now. Quack, quack.”

Cheney wants to keep private the details of White House sessions that produced the Bush energy policy. The administration is fighting a lawsuit brought by watchdog and environmental groups that contend industry executives may have helped shape policy.

Democrats in Congress and some legal ethicists have called on Scalia to stay out of the case. None has formally asked Scalia to recuse himself.

Supreme Court justices, unlike judges on other courts, decide for themselves whether they have conflicts with cases.