Unlike other judges, those on the Supreme Court make their own call about recusing themselves from a case, and those decisions are not open to review. Recently, Justice Antonin Scalia decided not to disqualify himself from hearing the case of a friend called Dick Cheney.
It began when the Supreme Court decided to review a case involving the vice president. Then, three weeks later, Cheney and Scalia went duck hunting together in a Louisiana bayou. Some say the hunting trip raises reasonable questions about the judge’s impartiality. Others point out that justices have always chosen their own company, which in Washington, DC, inevitably includes politicians.
Guests:
Henry Waxman, Democratic Congressman from California
Steven Lubet, director of the Program on Advocacy and Professionalism at Northwestern University in Chicago
Robert Destro, professor of law at Catholic University of America, specializing in legal ethics.