Once-confidential documents reveal Scalia’s role in Supreme Court taking up famous Dick Cheney case | CNN Politics

In late 2003, Supreme Court justices were prepared to reject a case involving then-Vice President Dick Cheney’s attempt to keep private politically sensitive records from his energy policy task force that had recommended opening more federal lands to oil and gas drilling. But then-Justice Antonin Scalia launched into action – in moves concealed from the public at the time. Scalia has long been linked to the dispute. He went on a long-planned duck hunting trip with Cheney three weeks after the court announced it would hear the case, generating one of the most enduring controversies over Supreme Court ethics. Once-confidential materials reviewed by CNN show how Scalia drove the decision to hear the Cheney appeal in the first place. The Sierra Club, one of the groups that sued the Cheney task force for documents, challenged Scalia’s impartiality and formally requested that he recuse himself. Scalia responded with a memorable 21-page statement refusing to take himself out of the dispute over lobbyists and other outsiders who may have met with the task force. Scalia’s defiant statement included a mix of hobnobbing history in Washington’s upper echelons – “Justice (William)