Even in Agreement, Scalia Puts Roberts to Lash

[cal04]

It’s not every day that one Supreme Court justice, even one as rhetorically unrestrained as Justice Antonin Scalia, characterizes another justice, let alone the chief justice of the United States, as a wimp and a hypocrite.

Yet Justice Scalia did something very close to that, not once but twice, in separate opinions on Monday. As a result, he has served to lift the curtain a bit on the differences within the powerful five-justice conservative bloc that has marched in lock step through much of the term, bent on reshaping the law and, in several important areas, well on the way toward doing so.

In the campaign finance case, he accused Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. of “faux judicial modesty” for writing an opinion that in Justice Scalia’s view effectively overturned the court’s 2003 campaign finance decision “without saying so.” The clear implication was that the chief justice lacked the courage or honesty to overturn the precedent openly as Justice Scalia himself would have done.

“This faux judicial restraint is judicial obfuscation,” he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/28/washington/28memo.html?hp

[deminks]

1. Jealousy is an ugly emotion. nt

[defendandprotect]

2. Scalia tried to intimidate O'Connor re Roe vs Wade using same tactics --

Scalia told O'Connor she didn't have the guts to overturn Roe vs Wade --
I don't remember all that went on, but it added up to a good bit of harassment by Scalia on O'Connor.

[aquart]

3. Oh, I hope they hate each other to the marrow of their bones.

I hope they ache with loathing and disgust. I hope every single day is a misery because they have to deal with each other. I hope they spend every spare second plotting humiliating revenges.

We'd never be lucky enough to have them kill each other.

[Demeter]

4. Of Course, Roberts Won't Reconsider His Rightward Ways, Either

If Scalia can't turn a man off fascism, nobody can.

Here's hoping Scalia makes Roberts see the light.