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When Don met Adam, and the things he said

By Mark Obbie

What's most remarkable about Adam Liptak's front-pager today on the pending Supreme Court case on judicial ethics and independence, Caperton v. Massey, is not simply that Liptak reported from the field rather than just from the briefs and from talking-head experts. He's done that often as the Times' legal affairs writer and now as its Supreme Court reporter. Plus, it's just basic reporting, and would be considered ordinary if we were talking about any beat other than SCOTUS. The truly remarkable aspect of his story is just how effective he was in getting coal executive Don Blankenship to mouth off about his role in judicial politics. Blankenship's heavy contributions to the now-chief justice of West Virginia led to claims that the justice's impartiality was so compromised that his hearing cases involving Blankenship's company, Massey Coal, amounts to a due-process violation for the side that didn't contribute cash. The case has judicial-election combatants duking it out over the influences of big money in judicial contests. So what did Blankenship tell Liptak? That he's experienced enough to know that "politicians don’t stay bought," meaning donors shouldn't try to win corrupt influence with their money. Instead, they should use it for long-term strategic influence over ideology and policy. He repeats the point, and undoubtedly made his Supreme Court advocates cringe, when he said his cash wasn't about one case -- but could be about winning judicial favor over the long haul: “If someone wanted to accuse me of something, they would accuse me of trying to elect Benjamin to rule in our favor in hundreds of cases, not one case.”Ruling in his company's favor, after all, was the whole point, Blankenship admits about wanting pro-corporate, anti-plaintiff courts. Which is what everyone knows the West Virginia battles (and many others) are really all about, rather than about the subjects of commercials on child-molestation cases. But hardly anyone admits it as nakedly as Blankenship did to Liptak, who writes:Liptak should get out of the office more often. He's just poured gasoline on this particular fire.

Full post as published by Lawbeat on February 15, 2009 (boomark / email).