Legal News

Next Stop on Nino?s Book Tour: A Riveting Talk with C-SPAN?s Brian Lamb

By Ashby Jones

It’s no use, I’m going to be a public spectacle whether I come out of the closet or not, beyond T-shirts and bobblehead dolls and what-not. So if, you know, if I am going to be a public figure, I guess the public may as well get their notion of me firsthand rather than filtered through people such as [C-SPAN’s] Brian Lamb, you know.” — Justice Antonin Scalia

He’s spoken to students, chatted with Lesley Stahl, and watched his book climb the Amazon rankings. But the Great Nino Scalia Traveling Tour just keeps on giving. The latest: a transcript of his conversation with C-SPAN’s Brian Lamb.

The transcript is GREAT reading. But for our money, we agree with Legal Times’s Tony Mauro, who seemed to find most engaging Scalia’s answer (above) to Lamb’s question as to why Scalia’s so out and about these days (or, as Scalia puts it, “out of the closet”).

Other highlights: Scalia’s reaction to Jon Stewart’s reaction to his 60 Minutes interview (”childish”); whether he’s ever changed his mind over oral argument (”Yes, I would say, but very rarely”); and whether he can name all of his 28 grandchildren. (”If you give me enough time, I could, but I can’t – it’s not fair. I can’t rattle them off like my nine children.”)

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on May 07, 2008 (boomark / email).