More on Justice Scalia

I’ll add a little bit to Joe’s post on Justice Scalia, Is Originalism Hitting Its Sell-By Date? "October 1 may be the first day of the post-Scalia era."  The Hill is reporting on Jeffrey Toobin’s new book, The Oath.  He describes Justice Scalia as “furious” and “enraged” that Chief Justice Roberts changed his vote on the health care decision.  The book describes the ideological struggle on the Court to revise constitutional analysis.  But there is more. 

The recent book by Justice Scalia and Bryan Garner, Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts, has received criticism by a number of individuals.  One of those critics, Judge Richard Posner, apparently stung Justice Scalia enough to respond.  The Chicago Tribune describes Posner of accusing Justice Scalia as “making flawed arguments based on sloppy research.”  Scalia struck back yesterday by saying "You can get away with it in The New Republic, I suppose, but not to a legal audience."  Oh, I don’t know.  I think anyone can say anything to anyone.  Judge Posner is a known quantity where people take notice of his statements whether on or off the bench. 

Other quotes from the Tribune: 

"We are textualists. We are originalists. We are not nuts," he said. 

Can I get that on a tee shirt?  And on Roe v. Wade: 

What's more, the court's subsequent decisions on abortion are based on the judge-made theory of "substantive due process," which guarantees certain fundamental rights like privacy. It's "utterly idiotic," Scalia said. 

The entire article is worth reading.  [MG]