Was the duck hunt a conflict of interest?

At the center of the dispute over Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's controversial duck-hunting trip is a question only one person can answer.

The issue isn't whether the private hunting trip with Vice President Dick Cheney compromised the justice's ability to be fair and impartial in a case pending before the high court involving the vice president. No one is challenging Justice Scalia's honesty.

Instead, the question is broader. Did the trip create an appearance of judicial favoritism?

Congressional Democrats, a growing number of newspaper editorial writers, and several judicial-ethics experts say it has. They say the justice must recuse himself from hearing the vice president's case or risk tarnishing the Supreme Court's image and his own.

But the federal recusal law that governs such issues authorizes only one person to decide that question - Scalia himself. Specifically, the relevant law requires a judge or justice to disqualify himself from any case "in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned."

"It is Justice Scalia himself deciding what a reasonable person would believe," says Richard E. Flamm, author of "Judicial Disqualification: Recusal and Disqualification of Judges." "What matters here is not what some appellate court believes, but what Justice Scalia believes is proper."

The 1974 recusal law is aimed at promoting public confidence in the judiciary in part by putting judges on notice that it isn't enough to act ethically, they must also be seen to be acting ethically. Appearances matter.

At the same time, Congress left it up to each Supreme Court justice to decide when or if recusal is appropriate. It is an important protection to guard the high court against those who might use recusal motions to eliminate a justice they fear will vote against them.

Scalia has already recused himself from one high- profile case this term, which examines whether the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance violate the Constitution's separation of church and state. In that case, the litigant who is challenging the pledge filed a motion charging that public comments Scalia made last year about the Pledge of Allegiance suggested bias. Scalia did not attempt to argue the point, or justify his earlier statements.

The justice has taken a different posture following the duck-hunting episode, actively defending his actions. "It's acceptable practice to socialize with executive branch officials," he told the Associated Press after a recent speech.

Details about the hunting trip are still somewhat sketchy. On Jan. 5, Scalia and Mr. Cheney flew together to Louisiana on Air Force Two. They were among others invited to a hunting camp by a Louisiana businessman. Cheney stayed for two days. Scalia hunted for four.

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