Scalia Slams Juvenile Death Penalty Ruling
Justice Antonin Scalia criticized the Supreme Court's recent decision to strike down the juvenile death penalty, calling it the latest example of politics on the court that has made judicial nominations an increasingly bitter process.
[ ... ] The court's 5-4 ruling March 1 to outlaw the juvenile death penalty based on "evolving notions of decency" was simply a mask for the personal policy preferences of the five-member majority, he said.
"If you think aficionados of a living Constitution want to bring you flexibility, think again," Scalia told [the] audience [ ... ]. "You think the death penalty is a good idea? Persuade your fellow citizens to adopt it. You want a right to abortion? Persuade your fellow citizens and enact it. That's flexibility." [ ... ]
Scalia, [ ... ] outlined his judicial philosophy of interpreting the Constitution according to its text, as understood at the time it was adopted.
Citing the example of abortion, he said unelected justices too often choose to read new rights into the Constitution, at the expense of the democratic process.
"Abortion is off the democratic stage. Prohibiting it is unconstitutional, now and forever, coast to coast, until I guess we amend the Constitution," said Scalia, [ ... ]
He blamed Chief Justice Earl Warren, [ ... ] for the increased political role of the Supreme Court, citing Warren's political background. [ ... ]
Scalia said increased politics on the court will create a bitter nomination fight for the next Supreme Court appointee, since judges are now more concerned with promoting their personal policy preferences rather than interpreting the law.
"If we're picking people to draw out of their own conscience and experience a 'new' Constitution, we should not look principally for good lawyers. We should look to people who agree with us," he said, explaining that's why senators increasingly probe nominees for their personal views on positions such as abortion.
"When we are in that mode, you realize we have rendered the Constitution useless," Scalia said. [ ... ]
But it was Scalia Showing His Softer Side according to Dana Milbank in the Washington Post.
[ ... ] Still, it was a kinder, gentler Scalia who took questions from scholars at the Woodrow Wilson center.[ ... ]
In private, Scalia is said to be charming. But his public face is his frequent dissenting opinions -- generally associated in news reports with words such as "scathing" or "cutting" -- that seem determined not just to assert disagreement but to cast doubt on the intellectual and moral integrity of the court's majority.
Disagreeing with the court's decision against a juvenile death penalty this month, he said his colleagues had engaged in "sophistry," wondering: "By what conceivable warrant can nine lawyers presume to be the authoritative conscience of the nation?"
At other times, he has accused his fellow justices of ruling on the "flimsiest of grounds." When he disagreed with the majority on executing the mentally retarded, he awarded his peers "the prize for the Court's Most Feeble Effort to fabricate 'national consensus.' " [ ... ]
In his talk yesterday, Scalia acknowledged a certain notoriety. He expressed amusement that he is often asked " 'When did you first become an originalist?' like it's a weird affliction that seizes people, like 'When did you start eating human flesh?' " And he observed, with some pride: "My most important function on the Supreme Court is to tell the majority to take a walk."
He also showed there is no danger of him succumbing to the whims of political correctness. Discussing a case about the BMW painting process, he surmised that the vehicles' coating is "baked seven times in ovens deep in the Alps by dwarves."
But Scalia suggested that he is a last voice of reason and sanity at a time when much of the nation has been tempted into a nihilist theory of the Constitution as a "living document" capable of being stretched to fit whatever a judge wants. By contrast, he acknowledged that he is dispensing some "tough medicine" in leading people away from the "lovely fields" of former chief justice Earl Warren.
This post has been a bit long. I just cannot resist Scalia quotations.
Rush Limbaugh is partial to Scalia quotations too. He suspended his one minute sound bite limit in order share portions of the speech with his listeners today.
And I must report that the voice was gentle but the words were weapons of steel.
Were the eggs soft or hard-boiled? We report. You decide.
Personal Message: To the Yellow Rose of Ohio, this one is for you.
