Julius Caesar — Antonin Scalia’s ancient paisano and fellow conservativegovernment official — understood very well the concept of the “appearanceof impropriety.” Ask his second wife. For judges in our country, of course,the rule has always been that you avoid even the appearance of impropriety,especially when it comes to potential conflicts of interest in a case directlybefore you. [E.g., you recuse yourself when a personal friend is the primarydefendant in a case.]
original
Peter Smith/Boston Herald
Most Americans believe Supreme Court justices should be held to thevery highest ethical standards (especially at a time of intense polarityand partisanship, with a deep suspicion that the Court has become toopoliticized). The higher standard seems most appropriate in recusal sit-uations, where the judge is totally unaccountable to anyone but himselfor herself.Justice Scalia seems to believe that he deserves to be trusted more, becausehe is a member of the nation’s most powerful court (a notion surely at oddswith the Framers he seems to so admire). Therefore, Scalia declared lastnight that his “proudest thing” as a Supreme Court Justice was his 2004decision not to recuse himself from a case involving Vice President Cheney,who is a personal friend of his. (AP/Washington Post, April 13, 2006)Many law-related weblogs will surely continue to comment on this remark.
See, e.g., WSJ’s LawBlog (Joseph Schuman); Crime & Federalism (NormPattis); Inside Opinions (Bob Ambrogi). It is a wonder that a jurist so proudof his mental capacities and linguistic skills would choose such a sad littlemoment to call his proudest. Perhaps the reason is a sense of embarrass-ment over the recent “chin flick” incident (covered in detail by us here – and,yes, he was lewd and obscene).By pointing to his Cheney Recusal Refusal, Scalia might be trying to say:“Yeah, I wasn’t man enough to own up to making anobscene-rude-lewd gesture at a Church, and I did sendout a Supreme Court Spokeswoman to protect my rear,but I sure stood up to those ethics mamby-pambiesand leftist do-gooders in the Cheney case.”Justice Scalia as Judicial Macho Man. Makes-a me proud to be an Italo-American lawyer. I think two Comments at WSJ’s LawBlog captured the recusal/ethics issusuccinctly and well:Scalia puts the cart before the horse. You aren’t supposed to trusta judge so that he shouldn’t recuse himself, he recuses himself sothat you can trust him. Comment by Stephen – April 13, 2006 atStephen’s comment is exactly right. Scalia’s “trust me despite theappearance of impropriety” theory is, sadly, exactly why there arerecusal rules. Recusal is not an admission of conflict; its a recognitionthat in the judicial system, the perception of conflict undermines theauthority of the courts as much as an actual conflict. Comment byDebra – April 13, 2006 at 11:30 am
Of course, maybe Antonin Scalia is just being crafty. Maybe he wants to undermine the
authority of the Court. In which case, his words and antics are right on target. We need
to make sure the American public knows that Antonin Scalia is not representative of our
Supreme Court, either today or historically.
For some reason, thoughts of Justice Scalia often lead meto a theme touched upon frequently in the more earthy haikuof Master Issa:
little chestnuts
pissed on by the horse…
shiny newhey boatman
no pissing on the moon
in the waves!laugh at my piss
and shudder…
katydid
Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue
If Scalia brings out similar emotions in you,
Issa has three dozen haiku on the topic here.
If Nino makes you think #2, Issa has you covered.
Me Ne Frego (Italian Hand Gestures)
David, I attended a lecture Justice Scalia gave at Harvard Law School in 1989 entitled “The rule of law as a law of rules.” At the time I was impressed with Nino’s intellect, his deference to the traditions of the Court and his predecessors as well as his peers, and sense of commitment to what he thought was “justice.” Based on what I’ve recently read, he’s gone from an idealistic jurist to a political hack in a robe.
Comment by Marc Chandler — April 13, 2006 @ 4:40 pm