Justice Antonin Scalia faced renewed questions yesterday regarding his off-the-bench contacts with parties to cases before the Supreme Court, as a published report described his travel to Kansas to speak at a law school whose dean was serving as a lawyer for the state in two cases pending before the court.
The Los Angeles Times reported that on Nov. 15, 2001, Scalia went to Lawrence, Kan., for a long-scheduled speaking engagement at the University of Kansas Law School. At the time, the school's dean, Stephen R. McAllister, was representing Kansas. Scalia also went pheasant hunting with the state's then-governor, Bill Graves (R). McAllister declined to accompany them, citing a possible appearance of impropriety.
Scalia paid for the hunting trip and did not accept a speaking fee from the law school. But the university paid for his lodging and meals and his flight to Kansas from Washington, D.C.
Scalia's January duck-hunting trip with Vice President Cheney, who is a named party in a case before the court, has sparked controversy and a request from one of Cheney's opponents in the case, the Sierra Club, that Scalia disqualify himself. Scalia has said publicly that he will not step aside, but he has not yet formally responded to the Sierra Club motion.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13464-2004Feb27.html
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