Salon: Antonin Scalia, self-made martyr

[kskiska]

He could have been the next chief justice. Today, he's just a poster boy for intolerance, vitriol and questionable ethics.

As he travels the country speaking to law schools and religious groups, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia likes to say that the U.S. Constitution is dead. It's not a "living document" whose meaning changes with the "evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society," but rather a set of rules established once and for all in 1789. The Constitution, Scalia says, means "what it meant when it was adopted."

But even for a jurist rooted so deep in the past, there comes a time to think of the future. For Scalia, that time came on the morning of Dec. 9, 2000. The Florida Supreme Court had just ordered a manual recount of more than 40,000 undervotes in the 2000 presidential election. George W. Bush, who was leading Al Gore in Florida by just 537 votes at the time, wanted that recount stopped -- immediately.

Five Republican Supreme Court justices obliged, and Scalia took it upon himself to explain why. Counting the votes, Scalia wrote, would "threaten irreparable harm to petitioner, and to the country, by casting a cloud upon what he claims to the legitimacy of his election. Count first, and rule upon legality afterwards, is not a recipe for producing election results that have the public acceptance democratic stability requires."

As he wrote those words that Saturday morning, Scalia was clearly thinking about Bush's future. It's hard to imagine that he wasn't also thinking of his own.

Scalia was a centerpiece of the 2000 presidential race. Candidate Bush had named him as a model of the sort of judge he'd like to appoint, and Democrats had raised the scary specter of "Chief Justice Antonin Scalia" as a way to mobilize their base. When the election came before the court, surely Scalia saw some personal advantage in helping Bush -- more conservative justices to side with him, perhaps, or maybe even a chance to lead them as the new chief justice.

It hasn't turned out that way.

more…
http://salon.com/news/feature/2004/04/02/scalia/index.html

[Skeptical Democrat]

1. Long article, well worth the read.

[ex_jew]

2. I am SO GLAD to see Scalia self-destruct !

Perhaps single-handedly giving the White House to Bush was all the mischief he's to be allowed. What a self-righteous blowhard.

[teryang]

3. It's tough being infallible

He knows more than the pope!

[aquart]

4. I'm pleased to see he disdains Sandra.

Sort of like watching thieves turn on each other.

Rot in hell, both of them.