The Twilight of Antonin Scalia

[DonViejo]

The conservative hero's fiery 2012 dissent on same-sex marriage could be his most influential opinion—but not in the way he intended.

GARRETT EPPS

When the Supreme Court reassembles in October, the same nine justices will gather in the robing room, but the Court itself will be different. As one example, consider the position of Justice Antonin Scalia. For a quarter of a century, Scalia has been the conservative wing’s alpha dog. By June of 2014, that seemed to have changed.

Scalia entered the October 2013 term with panache, capturing headlines with his contrived confession to a New York reporter that “I even believe in the Devil.” On the last day of the term, Scalia was not the center of attention; he wasn’t even there. (The Court’s public information staff said that he was “traveling.”) His junior colleague, Samuel Alito, delivered two of the term’s highest profile opinions, in Harris v. Quinn and Burwell v. Hobby Lobby.

There was a new sheriff in town.

Since Scalia’s appointment in 1986, he has succeeded brilliantly in seizing the spotlight, establishing himself as a conservative hero. He told one questioner to “get over it!” when asked about Bush v. Gore, and responded to pro-choice protesters with an indecent Sicilian hand gesture. Confronted politely by a gay student, he snapped, “If we cannot have moral feelings against homosexuality, can we have it against murder?”

more
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/08/the-twilight-of-antonin-scalia/378884/?single_page=true

[blue neen]

1. Love this at the end of the article:

"In George Meredith’s 1883 poem, “Lucifer in Starlight,” the Son of the Morning, bored in Hell, soars forth to cast a huge shadow over “Afric’s sands” and “Arctic snows.” But as he soars higher toward heaven, those domains recede, until at last,

He reach'd a middle height, and at the stars,
Which are the brain of heaven, he look'd, and sank.
Around the ancient track march'd, rank on rank,
The army of unalterable law."

"Scalia has had nearly 30 years to alter the law, and in many ways, he has succeeded. Yet the pique of confronting error, the pleasure of forecasting doom, has led him over and over into rhetorical excess, until at last his Windsor dissent helped cement one of conservatism’s most stinging defeats."

Excellent article, DonViejo. Good catch.

[Control-Z]

2. K&R!

Wonder how Scalia feels about his work lately. He might want to retire before embarrassing himself (again).

A girl can dream.

[Jackpine Radical]

4. You're assuming he's capable of feeling embarrassment.

Somehow, I suspect self-reflection is beyond him.

[Prophet 451]

10. It is

I confidently predict that he will ignore that opinion and vote against same-sex marriage when it ends up at the SCOTUS.

[ThoughtCriminal]

16. I'm pretty sure he does not reflect

even when looking at a mirror.

[Jackpine Radical]

18. I've heard that his kind doesn't.

[Gothmog]

3. Good article

Scalia is losing it

[former9thward]

5. I doubt that Scalia is in any type of twilight.

At least based on this poorly written article. The reporter knows little about the court. Scalia is a practicing Catholic so of course he believes in the Devil. It would be weird if a practicing Catholic did not. He was not at the court for the last day because every summer he goes to Italy to teach at Italian law schools - any court reporter should know that. Alito gave the last two court opinions -- because it was his turn -- again any court reporter should know that. Opinions are assigned by the Chief Justice and this year every Justice was assigned either 8 or 9 -- Scalia included.

[Control-Z]

14. Except for Thomas, right? (nt)

[former9thward]

15. No idea what your comment means.

Thomas was assigned the same number of cases as everybody else if that is what you are commenting on.

[Paladin]

6. Nightfall for Scalia can't come soon enough to suit me. (nt)

[Laelth]

7. Twilight?

In that regard, my sentiments align with the poster directly above me.

-Laelth

[Arugula Latte]

17. Twilight makes me think of vampires which makes me think of stakes through the heart.

[MineralMan]

8. I actually had a dream last night that Scalia announced his retirement

as of the end of the current session. Then, sadly, I woke up.

[fadedrose]

9. This is another national scene

that needs to be put on SNL . . .

[Prophet 451]

11. Scalia is a disgrace

Scalia makes his decisions entirely on political grounds and barely bothers to disguise it. When same-sex marriage gets to the SCOTUS, Scalia will disregard his previous opinion entirely and vote against. This is so utterly predictable that I half-expect Scalia to just release a form letter of his future opinions that says "conservatives win all cases".

I pray nightly for the sudden death of three Justices.

[ladjf]

12. If the decision is left up to Scalia, he will choose

to remain on the bench until he takes his last dying breath. nt

[cheyanne]

13. Here is Scalia's explanation of the place of God in a democracy.

http://www.firstthings.com/article/2002/05/gods-justice-and-ours

In this 2002 article, he uses God's "vengence is mine" from St. Paul as the moral basis of capital punishment which has unfortuntately been diluted by democracy.

"These passages from Romans represent the consensus of Western thought until very recent times. Not just of Christian or religious thought, but of secular thought regarding the powers of the state. That consensus has been upset, I think, by the emergence of democracy. It is easy to see the hand of the Almighty behind rulers whose forebears, in the dim mists of history, were supposedly anointed by God, or who at least obtained their thrones in awful and unpredictable battles whose outcome was determined by the Lord of Hosts, that is, the Lord of Armies. It is much more difficult to see the hand of God”or any higher moral authority”behind the fools and rogues (as the losers would have it) whom we ourselves elect to do our own will. How can their power to avenge”to vindicate the “public order””be any greater than our own? "