This post on the Blog of Legal Times reports that Senator McCain’s running mate, Alaska governor Sarah Palin, was eligible to join the plaintiff class in the Exxon Valdez case. Her husband, Todd Palin was a commercial fisherman at the time of the Valdez spill. They were eligible to join the class but they declined to file claims by last February’s deadline.

Stanford law professor Jeffrey Fisher, who represented the plaintiffs in the Supreme Court, says that Gov. Palin was always strongly supportive of the plaintiffs’ quest for punitive damages. Fisher observes, however, that “the Justices Sen. McCain likes” were not as supportive.