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
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.
constitution democratic good leaves point regardless view whether
My view is regardless of whether you think prohibiting abortion is good or whether you think prohibiting abortion is bad, regardless of how you come out on that, my only point is the Constitution does not say anything about it. It leaves it up to democratic choice.
address constitution cruel fact happens horrible mere sentenced somebody tortured
If you are sentenced to torture for a crime, yes, that is a cruel punishment. But the mere fact that somebody is tortured is - is unlawful under - under our statutes, but the Constitution happens not to address it, just as it does not address a lot of other horrible things.
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.
melting constitution illusion
It is difficult to maintain the illusion that we are interpreting a Constitution, rather than inventing one.
achieved best constitution instinct power requires retention
The first instinct of power is the retention of power, and under a Constitution that requires periodic elections, that is best achieved by the suppression of election-time speech,
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.
assumption normal search wants
I would think the normal assumption is if one person wants that search excluded, that search is excluded.
great minds
one of the great minds of our generation, of our time.
carry death factual innocence mere properly reached reason sentence
Mere factual innocence is no reason not to carry out a death sentence properly reached
commands dual system
Such commands are fundamentally incompatible with our constitutional system of dual sovereignty.
applied friendly letter otherwise present saw standards surely urged
I saw nothing amiss in that friendly letter and invitation, ... I surely would have thought otherwise if I had applied the standards urged in the present motion.
lead skin
He had a skin problem? ... Who would have thought this could lead to cold-blooded murder?