Washington ? Vice President Dick Cheney and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia spent part of last week hunting together at a private camp in south Louisiana just three weeks after the Supreme Court agreed to take up Cheney’s appeal in lawsuits over his handling of the administration’s energy task force.

While Scalia and Cheney are avid hunters and longtime friends, several experts in legal ethics questioned the timing of their trip and said it raised doubts about Scalia’s ability to judge the case impartially.

Federal law says “any justice or judge shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might be questioned.”

A lower court ruled Cheney must turn over documents detailing who met with his energy task force, but on Dec. 15, the Supreme Court announced it would hear his appeal.