Scalia’s Resort Trip Was Gifted By a ‘Friend’ Who Had Business Before the Supreme Court

[one_voice]

It’s now been revealed that the luxury hunting ranch vacation Antonin Scalia was on when he died was a gift from someone who Scalia indirectly helped with a recent Supreme Court decision.

In late 2015, the Supreme Court declined to hear an age discrimination suit (Hinga, James V. Mic Group, LLC) against a subsidiary of the manufacturing company J.B. Poindexter, which is owned by John B. Poindexter. Poindexter also owns the 30,000-acre Cibolo Creek Ranch in Shafter, Texas, where Scalia was vacationing when he died last weekend. According to the Washington Post, Scalia didn’t pay for his flight to the ranch, or for his room at the luxury ranch. His food and beverages were also free. Poindexter maintains that Scalia wasn’t given any preferential treatment, as the 36 people staying at the ranch that weekend were all staying for free.

However, the Post also reports that lingering questions remain about who else was staying at the ranch, and whether or not Poindexter or any of the ranch’s guests were trying to curry favor with the late Justice:

The nature of Poindexter’s relationship with Scalia remained unclear Tuesday, one of several lingering questions about his visit. It was not known whether Scalia had paid for his own ticket to fly to the ranch or if someone else picked up the tab, just as it was not immediately clear if Scalia had visited before.

It is also still not known who else was at the Texas ranch for the weekend, and unless that is revealed, there could be concerns about who could have tried to raise an issue around Scalia, said Stephen Gillers, who teaches legal and judicial ethics at the New York University School of Law. He compared it to unease that arises when judges and officials from major companies are invited to seminars or educational events that bring them together for periods of time.

During Justice Scalia’s tenure on the nation’s highest court, an astonishing number of decisions favored corporate plaintiffs and defendants, prompting the New York Times to call it the most corporate-friendly court since the World War II era. An op-ed in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution called the current Supreme Court — which, including Scalia, had the conservative majority of Roberts-Alito-Thomas-Scalia-Kennedy deciding cases in favor of big business — an “enforcer of corporate power.” The op-ed cited a professional statistical review that examined the results of over 2,000 cases:

http://usuncut.com/news/scalia-hunting-trip-was-a-gift/

[LakeVermilion]

1. Ah, yes the makings of a fine non-fiction book in a year or two.

I'll buy it.

[Kelvin Mace]

2. Corrupt to thhe very end

No wonder they want the whole issue hushed up.

[C_U_L8R]

3. No wonder Republicans want another Scalia

Corrupt, the whole lot of 'em.

[saturnsring]

4. fat tony on the take

[matt819]

5. Add corrupt to the lovely list of Scalia's character

Bigot.
Racist.
Homophobe.
Political hack.

Feel free to add to the list.

[nichomachus]

6. Nino was the poster boy for conflicts of interests. n/t