Antonin Scalia
Antonin Scalia
Antonin Gregory Scalia was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1986 until his death in 2016. Appointed to the Court by President Ronald Reagan in 1986, Scalia was described as the intellectual anchor for the originalist and textualist position in the Court's conservative wing...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth11 March 1936
CityTrenton, NJ
CountryUnited States of America
changing constitution enduring gotten longer meant truth
I used to say that the Constitution is not a living document. It's dead, dead, dead. But I've gotten better. I no longer say that. The truth is that the Constitution is not one that morphs. It's an enduring Constitution, not a changing Constitution. That is what I've meant when I've said that the Constitution is dead.
consult later says
Originalism says that when you consult the text, you give it the meaning it had when it was adopted, not some later modern meaning.
invent
It's not up to the courts to invent new minorities that get special protections.
governed history means relevant says sort text whether
Originalism is sort of subspecies of textualism. Textualism means you are governed by the text. That's the only thing that is relevant to your decision, not whether the outcome is desirable, not whether legislative history says this or that. But the text of the statute.
believe everybody less nobody pointing side worst
I am something of a contrarian, I suppose. I feel less comfortable when everybody agrees with me. I say, 'I better reexamine my position!' I probably believe that the worst opinions in my court have been unanimous. Because there's nobody on the other side pointing out all the flaws.
amazing amount ought
The court makes an amazing amount of decisions that ought to be made by the people.
I try to be an honest originalist! I will take the bitter with the sweet!
I think Thomas Jefferson would have said the more speech, the better.
accept apply constitution cruel due equal exist fully phenomena process protection respect terms time unusual vague
I do accept that, with - with respect to those vague terms in the Constitution such as equal protection of the laws, due process of law, cruel and unusual punishments. I fully accept that those things have to apply to new phenomena that didn't exist at the time.
burning expresses flag form government mean oral speech symbol written
Burning the flag is a form of expression. Speech doesn't just mean written words or oral words. It could be semaphore. And burning a flag is a symbol that expresses an idea - I hate the government, the government is unjust, whatever.
reasonably
I do not think my impartiality could reasonably be questioned.
best challenge efforts fond leads persuasive
He leads me to my best efforts because he is so sharp. It's a challenge to write something as persuasive as his arguments. We are very fond of each other.
lead skin
He had a skin problem? ... Who would have thought this could lead to cold-blooded murder?
amendment creature inspection judges neither nor police seek send uncertain unwilling
We are unwilling to send police and judges into a new thicket of 4th Amendment law, to seek a creature of uncertain description that is neither a plain-view inspection nor yet a ""full-blown search.