Hunt under scrutiny

Washington, D.C.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia denied this week that he’d compromised his impartiality by going on a duck-hunting trip with Vice President Dick Cheney. The Supreme Court will soon hear arguments in Cheney’s legal battle not to reveal the names of corporate executives who helped him write the administration’s energy policy. Watchdog groups said the chummy hunting trip—hosted by a Louisiana oil-services executive—would make it impossible for Scalia to judge the case objectively, and called on him to recuse himself. “It gives the appearance of a tainted process,” said Charles Lewis of the Center for Public Integrity. In a letter to the Los Angeles Times, Scalia said he and other justices often saw White House officials in social situations. “I don’t think my impartiality could reasonably be questioned,” he said.