LAT: Scalia, Lawyers Went Hunting While Cases Were Pending

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-scalia27feb27,1,244010.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was the guest of a Kansas law school two years ago and went pheasant hunting on a trip arranged by the school's dean, all within weeks of hearing two cases in which the dean was a lead attorney.

The cases involved issues of public policy important to Kansas officials. Accompanying Scalia on the November 2001 hunting trip were the Kansas governor and the recently retired state Senate president, who flew with Scalia to the hunting camp aboard a state plane.

Two weeks before the trip, University of Kansas School of Law Dean Stephen R. McAllister, along with the state's attorney general, had appeared before the Supreme Court to defend a Kansas law to confine sex offenders after they complete their prison terms.

Two weeks after the trip, the dean was before the high court to lead the state's defense of a Kansas prison program for treating sex criminals.

Scalia was hosted by McAllister, who also served as Kansas state solicitor, when he visited the law school to speak to students. At Scalia's request, McAllister arranged for the justice to go pheasant hunting after the law school event. And the dean enlisted then-Gov. Bill Graves and former state Senate President Dick Bond, both Republicans, to go as well.

[DRoseDARs]

1. Oops...

...Well this is rather embarassing.

Tee hee... :D

[maggrwaggr]

2. are all right wingers just completely corrupt?

I sure can't think of one honest right-winger these days.

[snippy]

17. The republican party is a criminal enterprise.

[aquart]

3. He's such a friendly guy.

[cardlaw]

4. Seems Scalia

can't keep from shooting prematurely.

[pfitz59]

5. Hunting daisy chains........

I presume....

[baby_bear]

6. This tidbit is kind of important...

Scalia later sided with Kansas in both cases.

s_m

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

13. Thanks, I didn't want to register.

Yes, I would attach a wee bit of importance to that fact.

[UpInArms]

15. here's a

tool for you (good at most news papers)

http://www.bugmenot.com/

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

23. Thank you kindly.

I'll take her for a drive.

[regnaD kciN]

7. It used to be that political "deals" were made on the golf course...

...now it seems to be the hunting blind.

Just a thought: do you have any idea how many hunters are accidentally shot and killed by other hunters who mistake them for animals?

:evilgrin:

(Not that I would wish an accident on any high Republican official...but I would think that such a venue for dealmaking might prove hazardous to their health. Maybe the golf course isn't so bad after all...)

[Flubadubya]

21. Hah! You just opened my eyes...

Maybe that's why the schmoozers now invite the schmoozies to hunt instead of play golf. If the schmoozee doesn't agree to the "plan", well... there's always that nasty, 'accidental', fatal hunting accident (wink, wink) :evilgrin:

[Judi Lynn]

8. This is so slimey......

From the article:

"The controlled shooting part of the trip was good," Graves said. "They plant birds, and that gives you a better attempt to get some birds."
(snip)

Two weeks after hosting Scalia, the law school dean was back in Washington to argue on behalf of Kansas in a case called McKune vs. Lile. That case tested whether Kansas could force sex offenders to confess all their past sex crimes as part of prison treatment.
Robert Lile, an inmate, argued that the state policy would force him to incriminate himself. A federal district court and appeals court agreed, and Kansas was asking the high court to overturn those rulings.

During the oral argument, Scalia questioned whether the inmate had a constitutional basis for his complaint. "Your client had been deprived of no liberty to which he was entitled, not a single liberty to which he was entitled," he told Lile's lawyer, Matthew J. Wiltanger.

The Supreme Court sided with Kansas in both cases, with Scalia voting on McAllister's side each time.
(snip/...)

Yep, they're right. There's really nothing wrong here, nothing wrong at all.

[aquart]

9. He sells out for a bird and a bottle? Fat Tony's a cheap date.

But anything for the Family.

[joeunderdog]

11. Can we shit-can this guy when Kerry's in?

Seems like he's daring someone to "do something about it."

Doesn't it take congress to get someone bounced?

[snippy]

16. Federal judges can be removed only by the impeachment process.

It requires impeachment by the House on a majority vote and conviction by the Senate on a two-thirds vote. I think Congressman Alcee Hastings was the last federal judge removed. It has been a wet dream of Tom DeLay and the Reich wing for years to impeach liberal Supreme Court Justices.

[rfkrocks]

20. Scary

you know he struggles everyday to avoid saying "rack him!" What would a baby born of a scalia coulter match look like?:scared:

[MaineDem]

10. If Scalia were an elected official...

impeachment would be in order.

What can we do about a corrupt Supreme?

[dusty64]

12. More blatant examples of the

corruption and incompetency of fat tony scalia. He really needs to be removed from the court immediately and it should be a top concern of Democrats when they return to power. What exactly is the process to remove an extreme court member?

[leQ]

14. at least he's not an 'activist' judge

*gag*

[rfkrocks]

18. Supreme court jester

The supreme court is the biggest joke in our nation's history. it is a mere political branch controlled by the right wingers for years. i think scalia should be impeached now! is this a free republic or some sort of European nobility crap act? Duck and pheasant hunting? with scalia its "peasant hunting". how about scalia hunts for his integrity? i think he shot that long ago.

[meow2u3]

19. Is this what Scalia means by "family values"?

As in Luchese family values, Gambino family values, Corleone family values, Soprano family values?

It all depends on what they mean by "family." :puke:

[nixonwasbetterthanW]

22. Scalia's written defense is preposterous

What a slimy defense Tony puts up.

1.) He was "the guest of the law school, not the dean." Yes, the law school socialized with him while they shot game. The law school poured the drinks, turned on the X-rated videos, swapped raunchy stories, etc.

2.) "The University of Kansas paid, not the state." Right, UK is just a private social organization, after all.

3.) He "spent time at the law school" and "spent time with the governor," but nowhere does he concede that he "spent time with a litigator who appeared in the very court where I sit in judgment."



The following statement was issued by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in response to a Los Angeles Times inquiry about his 2001 trip to Kansas:

I was not the guest of Stephen McAllister, but of the University of Kansas Law School. The invitation, in fact, had come not from Stephen McAllister but from his predecessor as dean of the law school, Michael Hoeflich. That invitation was issued in December of 1999 and accepted (by phone) some time before October of 2000 — long before the October and November, 2001, cases you refer to were on our docket. My travel expenses to Lawrence were reimbursed by the University of Kansas, not by the state. I flew with the governor and others on the governor's plane from Lawrence to Beloit and back, and promptly reimbursed the state of Kansas for the cost.

I do not think that spending time at a law school in which the counsel in pending cases was the dean could reasonably cause my impartiality to be questioned. Nor could spending time with the governor of a state that had matters before the court. Indeed, if the latter were so, Supreme Court justices would be permanently barred from social contact with all governors, since at any given point in time virtually all states have matters pending before us, either in accepted cases or in petitions for certiorari .

[yellowcanine]

24. So Scalia is a pheasant plucking duck blind justice?

I guess it is better to be a pheasant plucker than a pleasant ....oh never mind.

[PurityOfEssence]

25. Impeach him; the law's very clear

A justice has to recuse himself if a question of impartiality can be raised. If he's incapable to see how it not only could but inevitably would, then he's incapable of doing his job. Part of his job is to police himself.

He's recused himself on the issue of the Pledge of Allegiance; how have his affiliations to Cheney been less of an endorsement of the guy than his professed inability to look at things without looking through a religious prism?

This is the equivalent to recalls and redistricting: use checks in the system to keep governmental piracy from becoming the norm.

I'm very serious: Impeach this nasty fuck. He's the guy who said that "mere factual innocence" shouldn't dissuade a government from carrying out a "lawfully decided death sentence". What kind of madman would say such a thing? Well, someone who enjoys sport-killing for one, and one who believes in an afterlife for another.

This is a sick, sick man, and he's given ample grounds for impeachment. His is a life appointment, so unlike a temp like Junior, he's an enduring thorn in the side of all that's good.

[Bandit]

26. Are we seeing a pattern here?

Scalia is as corrupt as they come and the pattern is emerging in view for all to see.

[Fovea]

27. at any other time in America

this would be evidence of lack of sufficient judicial temprament.

But this type of justice has a precident, just not in the United States.