NYT- Ohio Groups Question Justice's Trip on Utility Jet (Rehnquist) [View All]

By MICHAEL JANOFSKY

Published: May 15, 2004


WASHINGTON, May 14 - A power plant company based in Ohio with a dozen cases in federal courts is flying Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist to Columbus so he can deliver a speech on Saturday at the dedication of a judicial center.

The cost of using the corporate jet, which belongs to American Electric Power, one of the nation's largest utilities, is being covered by money raised from a $75-a-plate lunch after the speech at the center, the new home of the Ohio Supreme Court. But environmental groups in Ohio are expressing concern over the propriety of a Supreme Court justice's being accorded favors by a company that has so many active cases, including one that goes to trial next year involving accusations that its plant operations in Ohio violated the Clean Air Act. Environmentalists say the case could reach the Supreme Court.

The idea that A.E.P. is bending over backwards to get the chief justice to Ohio for this speech is offensive," said Sandy Buchanan, executive director of Ohio Citizen Action, the state's largest environmental group. "It could signal a potential conflict of interest, and it's a favor that would not be afforded to the average citizen."

Mike Eckhardt, policy director of the Ohio League of Conservation Voters, said the trip reflected "suspect behavior'' by Chief Justice Rehnquist, adding, "You'd have to consider that it would make him not an impartial justice" in any case involving the power company.

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more: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/15/politics/15trip.html