The Supreme Court has received a request that Justice Scalia
recuse himself from the Cheney Energy Task Force case. And following Court tradition, Justice Scalia himself gets to make the call.
The U.S. Supreme Court said on Monday it referred to Justice Antonin Scalia a request that he remove himself from a case about Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force because their recent duck-hunting trip raised questions about his impartiality.
The Sierra Club environmental group, which sued Cheney for the task force papers, filed a motion last week asking that Scalia disqualify himself from the case because the January trip had created "an appearance of impropriety."
It said Scalia's removal would "restore public confidence in the integrity of our nation's highest court."
The justices said in a brief order, "In accordance with its historic practice, the court refers the motion to recuse in this case to Justice Scalia." It was not clear when Scalia would respond to the request [...]
According to the motion, Scalia and his daughter were Cheney's guests on Air Force Two on a Jan. 5 flight to Louisiana. Cheney and Scalia were guests of the president of an energy services company on a duck-hunting vacation.
Seems like a clear-cut case. Scalia recused himself from the Pledge of Allegiance case after publicly criticizing the 9th Circuit for stripping the words "under God" from the pledge. The obvious conflict of interest in this matter should make Scalia's call an easy one.
Incidentally, this means a 4-4 tie is possible. And in that case, the appeals court decision stands. In this case, the appeals court ruled against Cheney.