The U.S. Supreme Court has no army. It is not elected, and so cannot truly claim to represent the will of the people. The only source of its power is the public faith invested in it. That faith has many factors, but one significant one is the appearance of high ethical standards. Justice Breyer, for example, does not rule in cases that come up from his brother’s court. Justice O’Connor withdraws from cases involving businesses in which she owns stock. If they remained on these cases, it might look like their decisions were influenced by something other than interpretation of the law. But now we have Justice Antonin Scalia making a mockery of these ethical standards.

After the Court agreed to hear Vice President Cheney’s appeal regarding his energy task force meeting secrecy, Scalia accompanied Cheney on a duck hunting trip to Louisiana. Despite spending several days with Cheney (a close personal friend), Scalia refuses to withdraw from the case. Their flights were reportedly provided by the Vice President, meaning Justice Scalia accepted a gift from a pending litigant.

Any reasonable person can see this behavior at least raises some questions. Judges in general — and the Supreme Court especially — normally try to behave in such a manner that these issues needn’t ever be posed. If Scalia does end up participating in this case, a shadow will be cast on the ruling and on the Court in general.

The United States has thrived for hundreds of years with a government based on a tripartite system of checks and balances. Scalia’s actions undermine this system, and as such should be condemned by every proud citizen.

Drew Miller

Senior

Computer Science