Supreme Court Justice Anton Scalia refused to recuse himself from hearing a case involving VP Cheney's energy task force records--despite his spending a weekend hunting with Cheney. The Sierra Club had petitioned for his recusal. Supreme Court rules direct that the judge whose recusal is being sought is the judge who rules on the motion.

In an unusual response, Scalia said he will recuse himself when "on the basis of established principles and practices, I have said or done something which requires this course." He said the hunting trip to Louisiana was planned before the energy case reached the court. Those "established principles and practices" do not require or even permit him to step aside in the Cheney case, Scalia wrote.

Newsday says Scalia is wrong.

Scalia should reconsider. The court should urge him to do so. And if not-so-gentle persuasion fails, his court colleagues should decide for him. Unchecked, Scalia's intransigence will undermine public trust in the court's impartiality. That's too high a price for the nation's court of last resort to pay for one man's stubborn bad judgment....The Supreme Court has traditionally left recusal decisions to the justices involved. But if Scalia doesn't see the light, the full court should shine it in his eyes.

Here are more newspaper editorials calling for Scalia to step down from the case.