High Court Justice A Cheney Guest

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was Vice President Dick Cheney's official guest aboard a jet that served as Air Force II for a trip to Louisiana, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The two men, who are longtime friends, went duck hunting last month at a camp owned by an oil industry executive. The trip was made three weeks after the high court agreed to take up the vice president's appeal in lawsuits over his handling of the administration's energy task force.

Several experts in legal ethics questioned the timing of the trip and said it raised doubts about Scalia's ability to judge the Cheney case impartially.

The newspaper previously reported on the trip, but said it wasn't known that the two men had traveled together, or that Scalia had been Cheney's guest on Air Force II. Cheney and Scalia were the guests of Wallace Carline, the owner of Diamond Services Corp., an oil services company.

"If the vice president is the source of generosity, it means Scalia is accepting a gift of some value from a litigant in a case before him," New York University law professor Stephen Gillers told the Times. "It is not just a trip with a litigant. It's a trip at the expense of the litigant. This is an easy case for stepping aside."

Scalia had previously indicated that there was no need for him to step aside in the case. "I do not think my impartiality could reasonably be questioned," he said.

Supreme Court justices decide for themselves whether to step aside in a case.

Cheney aides said the vice president was entitled to travel to vacation locations at government expense and take along guests, the newspaper said. Scalia did not respond to requests from the Times for comment on the latest disclosure.

A lower court ruled Cheney must turn over documents detailing who met with his task force, but last December, the high court announced it would hear his appeal. The justices are due to hear arguments in April.