Legal News

Scalia Justifies His Jurisprudence: ?I am Not a Nut?

By Dan Slater

The Justice Scalia Roadshow continued yesterday, with Scalia popping up at Roger Williams University law school to talk to students. The event was part of the Rhode Island school’s “Supreme Semester.” Here’s the AP report.

At least one student got an ear-full when the person asked Scalia what role international law should play in the American court system. “What can a 20th century opinion from a French court possibly tell me about the original meaning of the Bill of Rights in 1791 in America?” Scalia replied. “Absolutely zip. Absolutely nothing.”

Scalia also said he’d have difficulty winning confirmation today (he won by a 98-0 margin in 1986) because the public expects its judges to rewrite the Constitution rather than interpret the document narrowly based on its original intent. “The most important thing is whether this person will write the new Constitution that you like,” Scalia reportedly said of the contemporary confirmation process. “If the court’s rewriting the Constitution, it’s an enormously powerful political body — and its selection will be done in a political fashion.”

On his judicial philosophy, Scalia reportedly said it was dangerous for interpretations to evolve over time and according to a particular judge’s opinion. “I am a textualist, I am an originalist. I am not a nut,” he said. “You want the right to abortion? Create it the way most rights are created in a democracy. Persuade your fellow citizens it’s a good idea — and pass a law,” Scalia said. “You don’t like the death penalty? Persuade your fellow citizens it’s a bad idea and repeal it.”

Law Blog Programming Note: Tomorrow night, Scalia will make a rare TV appearance on C-SPAN to participate in its Students and Leaders series. According to this report, Scalia will host a group of students from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology at the Supreme Court while C-SPAN covers the forum, in which the students will be able to ask him about various issues, including the First Amendment. Also, we just learned from BLT blog that, on April 27, Scalia is slated to appear on “60 Minutes” to discuss a book he co-authored called “Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on April 08, 2008 (boomark / email).