How Did Wealth Influence Justice Scalia?

The late justice died while a guest of J.B. Poindexter, former private equity investor and owner of a diversified manufacturing company. Click here for more.The 30,000 acre ranch where the justice died is raising new questions among legal ethics scholars about improper influencing of federal judges. No one is suggesting that Justice Scalia was bribed—not close— but there are growing questions that he immersed himself in a culture where political values may have driven discussions. (We’ll never know because the ranch and its parties are private.)

What makes this so interesting is that Justice Scalia sharply questioned whether labor unions can exact mandatory dues. On January 11, 2016, during oral argument in the Friedrichs case, he observed: “The problem is that everything that is collectively bargained with the government is within the political sphere, almost by definition. Should the government pay higher wages or lesser wages? Should it promote teachers on the basis of seniority or on the basis of ­­ all of those questions are necessarily political questions (p. 45).” Click here for the transcript. His implication is that a teacher who disagreed with her union’s politics had a First Amendment right to pay no dues.

Fair enough in principle, but how many teachers or teacher unions have access to wealthy power brokers who invite a few dozen important people to hob-knob and reinforce their particular view of politics? Post-Script: In 2011, Chief Justice Roberts issued a report that cautioned federal judges to maintain their independence—this, after it emerged that Justice Scalia and Justice Clarence Thomas had attended private political meetings sponsored by billionaire conservative donors David and Charles Koch. Were teachers or their unions invited to those meetings?