One day, I was on a panel with Judge Kollar-Kotelly. We met before the panel, and I said that it was a pleasure to meet her, and warned her that I had a case before her at the time. She said hello and that we shouldn't carry the conversation any further! That's the appropriate response. Contact between lawyers and a judge is improper unless the other party is present. Contact between an actual party and the judge is even worse.

The long term risk is that Scalia (with Bush v. Gore, the recent Texas redistricting case, and now this) is making the Supreme Court look too political. Courts lost their legitimacy when this type of monkey-business occurs.

LA Times reports:

"Vice President Dick Cheney and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia spent part of last week duck hunting together at a private camp in southern Louisiana, just three weeks after the court agreed to take up the vice president's appeal in lawsuits over his handling of the administration's energy task force, the Los Angeles Times says in its Saturday editions. "

[...]

"But Scalia rejected that concern Friday, telling the Times, "I do not think my impartiality could reasonably be questioned."

[...]

The Times notes that pair arrived Jan. 5 on Gulfstream jets and were guests of Wallace Carline, the owner of Diamond Services Corp., an oil services company in Amelia, La. The Associated Press in Morgan City, La., reported the trip on the day the vice president and his entourage departed.

Holy ---! And our fellow citizens will stand idly by.

Ack!
I love the smug superiority of the statement his impartiality couldn't be affected. Like that's even really the point. The point is, this fails the smell test. It stinks, it looks bad. He might not be affected but who cares? It will cast a pall on any decision he makes, especially if it's supportive of Cheney.