Thread: Scalia’s traveling companion in Texas was a prominent Washington lawyer

Scalia’s traveling companion in Texas was a prominent Washington lawyer


President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama pause as they pay their respects beside the casket of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)

By Jerry Markon February 24 at 4:58 PM

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s traveling companion at the Texas ranch where he died is a longtime Washington lawyer who has represented the Republican Party and shared a love of food, wine and hunting with the late conservative justice.

C. Allen Foster had been the subject of mystery in the days after Scalia’s body was found Feb. 13 inside a ranch bedroom. Authorities said Scalia had traveled to the luxury Cibolo Creek Ranch with a friend but they repeatedly declined to identify him.

A Texas sheriff’s department on Wednesday confirmed that Foster was the man who had flown on a chartered aircraft with Scalia, arriving at a private airport near the ranch the day before Scalia was found dead. A sheriff’s incident report on the investigation described him as a “a close friend of Scalia” and said that he, along with the ranch owner and manager, took Presidio County Sheriff Danny Dominguez to the room where Scalia died.

A representative from Foster’s law firm, Whiteford Taylor Preston, said Foster was traveling and that she would try to reach him.

Foster, a 74-year-old Louisiana native, is a prominent lawyer in Washington. In 1993, he went before the Supreme Court to argue a case on behalf of Hispanic Republicans in Florida who said the state’s reapportionment plan diluted their voting strength. During the argument, Scalia didn’t spare Foster, asking him tough questions he was known for flinging at lawyers from the bench.

“I don’t understand,’’ Scalia said at one point. “I had thought that the whole name of the game in trying to maximize the racial vote is not to keep neighborhoods together, but to keep only so many of them together as will give you 51 percent of the vote.’’

Foster could barely get off a fumbling response amid Scalia’s interruptions.

The court ruled that voting rights had not been diluted. Scalia, along with Justice Clarence Thomas, dissented on procedural grounds.

It is not clear when Scalia and Foster became friends. Legal specialists said the trip Scalia and Foster took to the Texas ranch raised no ethical concerns, calling it common for judges to socialize with lawyers in the close-knit fraternity of elite legal practitioners. Only if Foster had a pending case before the Supreme Court, they said, would there have been an issue.

“You can’t say ‘I’m not going on a trip with my friend because he may someday be a party in a case before the Supreme Court,’ ’’ said Stephen Gillers, an expert on legal and judicial ethics at New York University law school. Told that Foster’s sole argument before the court had been in 1993, Gillers said: “Twenty years ago? It’s not even close. Lawyers wouldn’t blink at that.’’

Despite having a famous friend, Foster has mostly stayed out of the news. Over the years, his eclectic group of clients has included the Republican Party, the libertarian Cato Institute, plaintiffs enslaved by Japanese corporations during World War II, and the former Blackwater Security Consulting, which was involved in a series of questionable incidents, including a 2007 shootout in Iraq that killed 17 Iraqis.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...3e8_story.html

Texas sheriff releases report on Supreme Court Justice Scalia’s death

Some of Scalia's companions on Texas ranch trip were part of exclusive society called International Order of St. Hubertus

BY CHRISTOPHER BRENNAN
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Updated:
Thursday, February 25, 2016, 8:40 AM

KEVIN LAMARQUE/REUTERS

A report said that multiple companions of Antonin Scalia on the Texas ranch trip where he died were part of the International Order of St. Hubertus.


Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s companions on the trip where he died were part of an exclusive international society of elite hunters, a report said.

The Cibolo Creek Ranch in west Texas, where Scalia was found dead on Feb. 13, is owned by millionaire John Poindexter, a leader in the International Order of St. Hubertus, according to the Washington Post.
The group, founded in the modern-day Czech Republic in 1695 and named after the patron saint of hunters, bills itself as a collection of hunters and wildlife conservationists.

While sometimes referred to as a secret society, the Order has a website where it shows off members in long, green robes and displays the Latin motto Deum Diligite Animalia Diligentes” or “Honoring God by Honoring His Creatures.”

VIEW GALLERY

Mourners pay their respects at Justice Antonin Scalia's funeral

Count Anton von Sporck, the group’s founder, also shared Scalia’s love of opera, and has been succeeded by a line of Grand Masters ending with the current Archduke Istvan von Habsburg-Lothringen.

The former Grand Master, Archduke Andreas Salvatore von Habsburg-Lothringen, had previously visited Poindexter’s ranch for an event reported byCulture Map Houston that involved dressing up in traditional European hunting attire for bird shoots.

SCALIA SUFFERED FROM HEART DISEASE, DIABETES WHEN HE DIED

It is not known whether Scalia himself was a member of the Order, though the Post reported that the person with him on a private plane to Texas, C. Allen Foster, is.

MATTHEW BUSCH/GETTY IMAGES

John Poindexter, the owner of the Cibolo Creek Ranch, is reported to be a member of the Order, though he said he did not know if Scalia was a part.


Flight records show that two other private planes taken to the ranch were linked to St. Hubertus members.

Thirty-five people were reported to have attended the weekend vacation.

The U.S. Marshals Service, which normally provides security for Supreme Court justices, was dismissed by Scalia for part of his journey and his time at the ranch.

Poindexter, who was the one who found Scalia dead in his bed after he did not get up for breakfast, told the Post, “There is nothing I can add to your observation that among my many guests at Cibolo Creek Ranch over the years, some members of the International Order of St. Hubertus have been numbered.”


The International Order of St. Hubertus was founded in the late 1600s by an Austrian count, and bills itself as a group for hunters and conservationists.


He said he did not know of a connection between Scalia and the Order.

Conspiracy websites have speculated that the conservative judge’s sudden death was the result of foul play despite officials' assertions otherwise, questioning why an autopsy was not done.

Despite whispers of scandal around the justice’s passing, a Supreme Court doctor said on Tuesday that Scalia suffered from heart disease and obesity diabetes and that nothing was suspicious about his death.
cbrennan@nydailynews.com
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nati...icle-1.2543241

Secret Society - hogwash. From the website - These guys don't seem to be scurrying around in secrecy to me... JMO
Deum Diligite Animalia Diligentes
Honoring God by Honoring His Creatures

The International Order of St. Hubertus is a worldwide organization of hunters who are also wildlife conservationists and are respectful of traditional hunting ethics and practices. Founded in 1695, the motto of the Order is “Deum Diligite Animalia Diligentes” or “Honoring God by Honoring His Creatures.”

Purpose of the Order

• To promote sportsmanlike conduct in hunting and fishing
• To foster good fellowship among sportsmen from all over the world
• To teach and preserve sound traditional hunting and fishing customs
• To encourage wildlife conservation and to help protect endangered species from extinction
• To promote the concept of hunting and fishing as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity
• To endeavor to ensure that the economic benefits derived from sports hunting and fishing Support the regions where these activities are carried out

• To strive to enhance respect for responsible hunters and fishermen

The International Order of St. Hubertus is a true knightly order in the historical tradition. The Order is under the Royal Protection of His Majesty Juan Carlos of Spain, the Grand Master Emeritus His Imperial and Royal Highness Archduke Andreas Salvator of Austria and our Grand Master is His Imperial and Royal Highness Istvan von Habsburg Lothringen, Archduke of Austria, Prince of Hungary.

About Us

The International Order of Saint Hubertus was founded in 1695 by Count Franz Anton von Sporck in what was then the Kingdom of Bohemia, then territory of the Habsburg Empire, now the modern Czech Republic.

The Order was a knightly order with an emphasis on hunting and activities related to the pursuit and management of game animals. In the Middle Ages and again with the revival of interest in the forms of chivalry in Europe, hunting was considered a basic preparation for warfare and was held among the highest activities a gentleman could pursue. In addition, Count von Sporck was also a prominent patron of music, having commissioned numerous Vivaldi operas and the four Bach minor Masses for performance at his private Opera House in Prague.




The Order counted among its original members Emperor Charles VI and many of the other noble families of the Holy Roman Empire. After nearly 250 years of honorable existence, the Order was banned by Adolph Hitler for refusing to accept Nazis as members after the Anschluss joined Austria to Germany. The biography of Count von Sporck, the Institution of the Order by him and its existence until World War II are chronicled in the History section of this website.

http://www.iosh-usa.com/

It appears to be quite a social "secret" society....



Nice looking couple...


Pretty normal social stuff....


The liberal New York Times has referred to this group as a "Secretive Society". It appears to be a just very well heeled hunting club. More liberal BS JMO.

Creepy.