Scalia: Constitution is ‘dead, dead, dead’

[kpete]

Source: The Hill

Scalia: Constitution is ‘dead, dead, dead’
By Jonathan Easley - 01/29/13 09:11 AM ET

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia emphatically rebutted the notion that the Constitution is a living document in a lecture at Southern Methodist University on Monday.

“It’s not a living document,” Scalia said, according to a report in the Dallas Morning News. “It’s dead, dead, dead.”

Scalia also told the crowd that sometimes the decisions he arrives at are not in concert with his political convictions.

“The judge who always likes the results he reaches is a bad judge,” he said.





Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/279789-scalia-constitution-is-dead-dead-dead#ixzz2JO4Hi7vI

[villager]

1. So... no one other than land-owning white guys should ever have been allowed to vote?

Well, thanks for being honest, at least, Scalia.

[kestrel91316]

60. Apparently so. On the up side, he now has to face the fact that him impoverished Italian immigrant

ancestors would have had no vote, nor many rights, and then HE HIMSELF today would be poor and landless and so unable to vote.

Does he truly not know how to add 2 and 2?????

[Scairp]

74. Who foisted this asshole on our country?

Bush I? Reagan? I don't recall but fuck you very much whoever it was. Didn't he read the job description for a Supreme court justice? It specifically involves interpreting the Constitution to determine if a particular case or law or bill passed is Constitutional. Maybe that's why we get such crazy shit from him. He doesn't even believe in the thing he is supposed to cherish. What an abomination.

[PerceptionManagement]

75. The problem with Supreme Asshole Fat Tony is..

he is an asshole. Pick a side in any decision he has made and you can be sure Fat Tony will have done whatever it takes to hurt as many people as possible and then claim 'strict constitutionalism'. In hell, ann coulter will blow scalia's soft dick for eternity.

[MynameisBlarney]

2. Yet another reason

to impeach the asshole.

[demwing]

3. So explain the amendment process, Fat Tony

please proceed, Justice...

[Ian Iam]

8. I vastly prefer the other version.....

"

[DhhD]

44. The government of the Bill of Rights instead of the government of the Constitution.

And his version of the Bill of Rights too.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

14. Living dead?

[demwing]

15. It's an Amendment Apocalypse!

The Night of the Living Bill of Rights!

[Downtown Hound]

4. Yes, due in no small part to that presidential selection you made a little over a decade ago. n/t

[lrellok]

5. If it is dead

Why should we then not replace it with something relevant to modern society?

[Angry Dragon]

6. I think he should resign

Last edited Tue Jan 29, 2013, 03:39 PM - Edit history (1)

[sakabatou]

39. +1

[demwing]

56. I think we should resign

him...

I don't think he'll do it himself

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

7. Why is his opinion

given so much attention? He's not the Chief Justice..........

[wilt the stilt]

17. same question I have about rand paul n/t

[malthaussen]

9. So he swore to defend a dead thing?

I dunno, like, isn't that a little late for defense?

-- Mal

[NoGOPZone]

10. Nice of him to gloat about it nt

[Botany]

11. Then quit Tony.

If the Constitution is no longer a living and dynamic document in your view
then quit right now.

[kysrsoze]

29. Exactly... or explain how corporations now = people. That rat fucker!

[msanthrope]

12. Somebody's gotta get that man an evaluation. nt

[robertpaulsen]

13. OK Scalia, let's try to find some common ground.

If I can agree with you that the Constitution is not "living", i.e. it doesn't eat, sleep, breathe, shit and fuck, then can you agree with me that a corporation is not a "person", i.e. it doesn't eat, sleep, breathe, shit and fuck?

Well, OK, maybe corporations do shit all over indigenous people from third-world countries and fuck us all with their greenhouse gas emissions, but let's not nitpick, OK?

[Scuba]

16. Well, if there's one man who knows what it takes to be a "bad judge" it's Tony.

[Baitball Blogger]

18. Scalia is the experiment that this country needed to go through to convince us once and for all

that strict constructionist have no place on the Supreme Court.

[JHB]

42. He was needed to make it clear there's no such thing as a "strict constructionist"

There's just people who claim they are because it gives their views a coat of patriotic whitewash.

[yardwork]

19. Scalia is a weirdo.

We should have let the Republicans appoint Bork. He's gone now and Obama would be appointing a replacement, and no way could Bork have been as bad as Scalia.

[n2doc]

23. Scalia was not Bork's replacement

Kennedy was. Scalia was a later appointment, as was Thomas. If your world we would have had both, because the Repubs had already decided to go all extreme on their choices.

[yardwork]

25. You're right. Reagan had originally considered Bork when he nominated Scalia instead.

The Bork nomination was separate.

Scratch my plan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan_Supreme_Court_candidates

[SunSeeker]

20. Scalia is dead, dead, dead wrong.

[MADem]

21. What a sick fuck....so what's he saying? Don't even try for an ERA?

I can't bear that jerk...!

[NinetySix]

22. If this is the case, then we do not actually have liberty or self-determination, but

are under the thumb of tyrants 200-years dead.

Rousseau held that Sovereignty, the general will of a people, is superior to government, and that when government no longer serves the ends of that Sovereignty, namely the common good, that government is dispensible and may be replaced with a new government of a different form. A government is thus always in flux ("alive," in this sense), mutating to better serve public ends, else it is in peril of being abolished and replaced.

So, Mr. Justice: ever read Rousseau, you ignorant fuck? The Founders did.

[John2]

73. It was the intent

of the men who wrote the Constitution and also placed into it the Bill of Rights. The overthrow of the British Government was the justification for the American Revolution. The right for the people to rebel was also the justification for the French Revolution. Those men were thinking in the context of the Era.

I also read the comments from right wingers praising Justice Scalia. I've made these comments over and over. The only power given to any Constitution is if the people consent to it. The people have the right to change it by not only peaceful means but violent means also. Time and time again, people in the Republican Party or on the Right continue to cite the original intent of the men who created this document. That document was created after4r the violent overthrow of a government and it was also changed after a violent Civil War. It was also changed through less violent means during the Civil Rights Movement but there was still violence. By it's own history, this is a living document and subject to change. The country is changing through demographics. In order to meet those changes, the Constitution also needs to evolve. There are a small group in this country, that likes to live in the Past and rule the majority. You can only push the majority too far before they use the last resort. The Republican Party is playing a dangerous game.

[Paladin]

24. He's Just As Unhinged As So Many Of Us Have Suspected. (nt)

[Klukie]

26. Jefferson, on reform of the Virginia Constitution

"Some men look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence, and deem them like the ark of the Covenant, too sacred to be touched. They ascribe to the men of the preceding age a wisdom more than human, and suppose what they did to be beyond amendment... laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind... as that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, institutions must advance also, to keep pace with the times.... We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain forever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors." -- Thomas Jefferson, on reform of the Virginia Constitution

[demwing]

35. I just sent this to the SCOTUS

Attn Justice Scalia.

http://www.supremecourt.gov/contact/contact_pio.aspx

[MessiahRp]

37. I read that in Stephen Dillane's voice.

He was amazing as Jefferson.

[broadcaster75201]

27. So the Air Force is unconstitutional?

Who knew.

[Plucketeer]

28. Poor Tony....

His powers of comprehension are DEAD - DEAD - DEAD.

Edit to observe..... Antonin would be well advised to adopt Clarabell Thomas' approcah to pontificating. How's that line go..... Better to not speak and let folks only SPECULATE as to your ignorance - rather than confirming you're a dunce by speaking your tiny mind.

[global1]

30. I Guess It's Only A Living Document When We Consider the Second Amendment.....nt

[LeftInTX]

31. Bye Bye standing Army

[DhhD]

47. Back to the Militias.

[hack89]

55. "The Congress shall have Power .... To raise and support Armies,..."

Section 8

The Congress shall have Power to:

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

[Lesmoderesstupides]

70. no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years

hence the 2 year DoD budget cycle, gives em wiggle room around the pesky Constitution the FF were not fans for a permanent Standing Army, Navy different story they PROTECT Commerce and trade.

[Octafish]

32. Stupid NAZI gangster even talks like a mafiosi.

A soldier, at that.

[Crowman1979]

33. So now the constitution is pick & choose.

Just like the bible!

[pansypoo53219]

34. ok mr opus dei, is the bible dead then?

oh wait. he would say yes.

[dbackjon]

38. That phrase should describe the judicial careers

Of you, Alito and Thomas

[DallasNE]

40. Scalia, How Dead Was The Constitution

In the Bush v Gore and Citizens United rulings? Those are extreme examples of legislating from the bench, where you were in the 5-4 majorities, showing that you have no credibility.

[Jack Rabbit]

41. Jack Rabbit: Scalia's mind is "dead, dead, dead"

While I agree with Scalia that a good judge will arrive at decisions he does not like, his "originalist" view of the Constitution is both unimaginative and unsatisfactory. Do we need to amend the constitution every time a new technological advance creates a situation that James Madison could not have fathomed in his wildest dreams? Would Scalia interpret the Second Amendment to give the right of an individual to put a Howitzer in his back yard or to build a nuclear bomb in his garage?

[DhhD]

49. The 2nd Amendment needs to be reworded,changed or removed. The US has the federal Armed Forces; no

Militia is needed anymore.

[Jack Rabbit]

65. . . . because the Founding Fathers did not inted to maintain a standing army

So where was Scalia when we needed him during the Vietnam War? Would his originalist legal philosophy have led him to declare the draft unconstitutional?

[Madmiddle]

43. The actual question was

Hey Toe Knee, how's your wife in bed? His answer; dead, dead, dead. Quite honest for a schmuck.

[Old and In the Way]

45. The only thing dead about the Constitution is

Justice Scalia's utter disrespect for the role he should be playing in interpreting it. He is a partisan Republican hack who is willing to subvert the ideals of the document to further the interests of a small minority of people in this country.

[GoCubsGo]

61. Yep, he just hates what's in it.

It kills him to know that the Constitution gives to all of the unwashed masses all sorts of freedoms he doesn't think we deserve. What a vile man.

[Blue_Tires]

46. How does he get away with continually saying this?

If Sotomayor said this, it would be national news, congressional repubs would be calling for her dismissal and there would be a congressional investigation into Obama's selection, vetting and approval processes...

[bongbong]

53. Same answer to pretty much every political question

IOKIYAR

[rocktivity]

48. Rocktivity: Scalia is

a 'murderer, murderer, murder'.


rocktivity

[AzDar]

50. Just like his brain, brain, brain.

[yellowcanine]

51. But you liked the outcome of Bush V Gore didn't you Tony?

Are you now conceding that was bad judging?

[GoCubsGo]

64. I don't think that's what he is saying.

He is saying that he doesn't like the some of the decisions he makes, because he is forced to comply with the Constitution, even though he disagrees with it. I'm sure he is quite content with his Bush v Gore decision, as he was able to come up with a rationalization that his warped decision was somehow constitutional.

[geardaddy]

52. Va fanculo, Antonio.

[cynzke]

54. So Scalia....

What are you there for? A paycheck? So when did the constitution "die, die, die"? Before or after your appointment? What a stupid, irresponsible and dangerous claim to make.

[Igel]

68. He'd say it was never alive.

It doesn't grow and change that much. If you want it changed, you amend it.

I have a cat. It grows and changes. If I want it changed, I can amend it--it's neutered, making it loss some function--but if I do that too many times then it, too, is dead. Hard to amend it to give it *new* functions.

Since it's gotten harder to make changes to the Constitution the alternative has been to amend the definitions of the terms used in it and to make it say novel things--not just expand "freedom of the press" to similar kinds of activities, but to make it say novel things. "Emanations of penumbras" sort of things.

[Odin2005]

57. Somebody give this idiot a remidial class on Common Law.

[Demeter]

58. And Scalia and his compadres killed it

[GoCubsGo]

59. Scalia: My brain is dead, dead, dead.

This asshole doesn't belong on a road-kill pick-up crew, let alone on the Supreme Court. Just because you hate what's in the Constitution doesn't mean it's dead, you filthy dirt bag.

[MissMarple]

62. Tony is always right. Just ask him.

I saw an interview with him a few years ago, he actually stated that he was always right. The other justices can be wrong but not Tony. Although it must be a trial to be surrounded by so many deficient people, he does manage maintain cordial relationships with them.

[Lint Head]

63. So the right to bear arms is dead?

[unblock]

66. he's used that line before.

and it was crap he himself didn't believe in then, too.

[Hosnon]

67. While he may think otherwise, that's just his interpretation.

When he is off the Court, that interpretation will likely have one less proponent.

[high density]

69. It's dead until something like DC vs Heller comes along

and then it suddenly becomes living and people like Scalia interpret it how they want to.

[muntrv]

71. Hey Tony! Clarence Thomas would still be a slave under your interpretation of

the Constitution.

[Zorra]

72. Scalia's ability to reason fairly and logically is dead, dead, dead. nt

[cantbeserious]

76. Finally, We Can Rescind The Second Amendment

eom

[davidpdx]

77. I know on the day this happens

I'm going to get spanked hard on DU and I'll take it. The day he dies I will be grave dancing.

I absolutely despise him.

[ZRT2209]

78. meaning only muskets should be allowed

[Incitatus]

79. I hate when I misread OPs. nt

[olddad56]

80. and he helped kill it when he selected Dubya for President.

The constitution was pretty much superceded by the provisions in the Patriot Act. The most unpatriotic of all acts.

[SoapBox]

81. Hey, Scanklia...

Fuck off!!!

[aquart]

82. Sounds like a confession of murder to me.

[wickerwoman]

83. Then since his job is to defend it, he should be "unemployed, unemployed, unemployed"

[47of74]

88. YES, YES, YES

[RedCloud]

84. yet corporations are alive and killing us?

[BudHardener]

85. He was talking to his Pleasure Pickle

“The judge who always likes the results he reaches is a bad judge,” he said.

So, Scalia admits he always likes his results.

[LiberalFighter]

86. If the Constitution is dead then doesn't that mean there shouldn't be any USSCJ's?

[Thor_MN]

87. I'll be damned. The guilty do return to the scene of the crime.

[Initech]

89. Yup and guess who killed it? (hint: Bush v. Gore)

[Sunlei]

90. he is very conservative & sometimes a smartass, I don't think he ever took bribes for him and wife.

He got in very easy compaired to some but I don't think he lied under oath.

I wish there were about 10 more Justices,none of them were allowed to take any bribes for them or family (removed if they did) and more were Constitution professors for at least 10 years before appointment.

[lunatica]

91. Well, he did do his part to kill it by selecting Bush in 2000

But as usual, in his conceit he overestimates the results of his own actions.