Posted on 05/18/2008 10:43:48 AM PDT by kingattax
Of all of Antonin Scalia's fellow justices, ultra liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is his best friend.
That’s the surprising admission of Scalia, a target of liberals who all but worship Ginsburg. He revealed his closeness to her Friday during an appearance on the "Laura Ingraham Show" where he spoke about his new book “The Art of Persuading Judges.”
“I consider myself a good friend of every one of my colleagues, both past and present,” Scalia told Laura. “Some more than others. My best friend on the Court is and has been for many years, Ruth Ginsburg. Her basic approach is not mine, but she’s a lovely person and a good loyal friend.”
During the show, Scalia, the father of nine children, mentioned his personal opposition to abortion, his opinion of the controversial use of foreign law in forging court opinions, and the advice he gives lawyers on how to behave before the Court — “get to the point.”
Among his revelations:
* On his philosophy of originalism (going back to the original intent of the men who wrote the Constitution and the legislators who wrote laws) in judging: “ In a democracy, the people decide how they’re governed. The majority rules. If you don’t believe that you don’t believe in democracy. If that is the general rule, it has to be the general rule for the Constitution as well. When I apply a Bill of Rights against a federal statute that’s been enacted, I say ‘no, that statute cannot stand because it contradicts the Constitution.’ In one sense I’m being anti-democratic because I’m telling the people’s representatives they can’t do what they want to do.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
This is the trouble with men. They let women get away with murder. Literally.
I think she ADORES him. Women love a man like him—brilliance laced with a classy but undeniable incorrigibility.
Anyone wanna make a bet? LOL!
IMO she on the libertarian side at times. She also thinks that prostitution should be legal.
The rest of that end quote...
“The only thing that justifies that is that in the broader sense I am democratic because it is the people who decided upon this Bill of Rights. They decided that there were certain things that Congress couldn’t do, and since they decided that I am really giving effect to the will of the people when I say this particular statute is invalid.
“If you adopt a philosophy of interpretation that says ‘oh, the meaning of the Bill of Rights changes according to whatever the Supreme Court [says it means]’ suddenly all of the democratic principle is simply sucked out of what the Court does. It is up to the Court to decide what Congress can and can’t do.”
Watched an interview of Justice Scalia by Brian Lamb the other day on CSPAN. Seems like a remarkably down-to-earth guy; uses plain language and inserts humor here and there. Don’t know about the friendship with Justice Ginsberg....
Here’s the interview:
http://www.c-spanarchives.org/library/index.php?main_page=product_video_info&products_id=205000-1
We need more civility like this, in the old-school Ronald Reagan-Tip O’Neill mold. Note that Scalia does not “moderate” his positions in order to be liked by liberals; rather, he befriends a liberal despite her positions, because she is a human being with good qualities.
Does anyone actually know what his political point of view is?
I know of no other interviewer or talking head who deals with political subjects, who is so skilled at concealing his own personal beliefs.
I consider my self skilled and perceptive in picking up even the slightest hint of bias or favoritism. I can usually scope out a new player within a minute or two of their first appearance.
In 20 years of watching and listening to Brian Lamb I have not been able to perceive a bias.
My best guess is that he is a closet conservative, because a liberal is incapable of hiding their true beliefs this long, this consistently. I think he knows that if liberals thought he was conservative they would find away of attacking him or undermining CSPAN.
He expresses his conservatism by giving conservatives equal time. He defines balance as giving liberal and conservative equal time unlike the MSM that sees balance as dividing things up 10% conservative 10% hard left radical and 80% liberal.
Now let’s hear what Ginsburg thinks of him.
I notice from Brian Lamb's Wikipedia entry that he worked in the Johnson and Nixon White Houses, but that was when he was in the Navy. He did put in some time in government after leaving the Navy and also worked for Peter Dominick, a Republican Senator from Colorado. Living in Washington, the tendency is to become more liberal, but having a Republican background can offset that.
I have to wonder, though, when he goes, will CSPAN become more left-leaning?
I know that when she speaks to groups (usually at a law school or college), she gets very upset when someone says anything negative about Scalia.
When I say upset, I mean, emotionally unstable, like you were bad mouthing a family member, she loses some self control and almost breaks into tears.
Not a very strong person from what I have heard.
I think she might be changing from “liberal” to “libertarian”. It's not something that you see often, but it has been known to happen.
Ginsburg also lamented the Supreme Court’s Roe vs. Wade ruling, believeing that the matter should have been left up to the people.
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