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Warner: Scalia Thomas Not Mainstream Jim Gilmore supports constitutionalist judges and supports the overturn of Roe v Wade calling it a bad decision. Mark Warner says justices Scalia and Thomas are outside the mainstream when asked about Roe v Wade and the justices he would support. Roanoke VA Senate Debate Friday October 3, 2008 Warner: Scalia Thomas Not Mainstream  

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is no stranger to criticism. He gives as good as he gets. But two recent critiques of his opinion in the landmark decision guaranteeing people the right keep guns at home for self-defense are notable because they come from respected fellow conservative federal judges. The judges, J. Harvie Wilkinson of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., and Richard Posner of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, take Scalia to task for engaging in the same sort of judicial activism he regularly disdains. Wilkinson was interviewed...

Justice Antonin Scalia is one of the most outspoken jurists on the Supreme Court when it comes to talking about abortion. Scalia repeated the mantra on Monday that he's presented to college students and community forums about how the high court doesn't have the power to declare a right to abortion. During a speech at Utah State University's Taggart Student Center, where 1,700 people came to hear the respected judge tell it like it is, Scalia criticized those jurists who engage in what he called "abstract moralizing." In addition to faulty decisions like Roe v. Wade, Scalia said it results...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Justice Antonin Scalia is one of the most outspoken jurists on the Supreme Court when it comes to talking about abortion. Scalia repeated the mantra on Monday that he's presented to college students and community forums about how the high court doesn't have the power to declare a right to abortion.During a speech at Utah State University's Taggart Student Center, where 1,700 people came to hear the respected judge tell it like it is, Scalia criticized those jurists who engage in what he called "abstract moralizing."In addition to faulty decisions like Roe v. Wade, Scalia said...

Karalyn O’Brien of Mendon didn’t think she’d ever be able to study law with a U.S. Supreme Court justice, nor did Pamela Tankle of Dorchester. But this past summer, the two students from the New England Law Boston, formerly known as the New England School of Law, did just that. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia taught a course through the school at a satellite location in Galway, Ireland, titled Separation of Powers. The course examined some of the principle decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court dealing with that topic, including cases pertaining to appointment and removal of executive officers, delegation...

SCALIA THE ENEMYby Judie BrownReleased May 28, 2008It came as no surprise when a dear friend, Andy V. of Minnesota, wrote me concerning a comment Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia made during an interview with Leslie Stahl on 60 Minutes on April 27. Since I never watch network programming, which is, I presume, a blessing, I simply had no idea what the Catholic Scalia had said. Perhaps you did, but in case you are uninformed, the following is from the transcript of that interview:"What is the connection between your Catholicism, your Jesuit education, and your judicial philosophy?" Stahl asks. "It...

Scalia's selective historyBy Jack RakoveAppeals to the evidence of history figured prominently in last week's Supreme Court decision in District of Columbia vs. Heller, striking down a sweeping ban on handguns and affirming that the 2nd Amendment protects a fundamentally individual right "to keep and bear arms." Yet read the two main opinions by Justices Antonin Scalia (for the conservative majority) and John Paul Stevens (in dissent), and you will see that different ways of defining and reading what counts as historical evidence expose a fault line between them.One would have to be terribly naive to think that how these...

I was walking around Rutgers the other day when I came upon a memorial to students who had fought in World War II. The list of names was impressive, but I imagine most major universities in America have similar memorials. It was only when I happened to walk by Old Queens that I noticed something you wouldn't see on just any campus. It was a plaque honoring the Rutgers men who had fought in the Revolutionary War. Nearby is the spot from which Alexander Hamilton directed cannon fire against the British in cover of George Washington's army. You don't see...

The Supreme Court has spoken: Thanks to the court's blockbuster 5 to 4 decision Thursday, Washingtonians now have the right to own a gun for self-defense. I leave the law to lawyers, but the public health lesson is crystal clear: The legal ruling that the District's citizens can keep loaded handguns in their homes doesn't mean that they should.

By E. J. Dionne WASHINGTON -- In knocking down the District of Columbia's 32-year ban on handgun possession, the conservatives on the U.S. Supreme Court have shown again their willingness to abandon precedent in order to do whatever is necessary to further the agenda of the contemporary political right. The court's five most conservative members have demonstrated that for all of Justice Antonin Scalia's talk about "originalism" as a coherent constitutional doctrine, the judicial right regularly succumbs to the temptation to legislate from the bench. They fall in line behind whatever fashions political conservatism is promoting. Conservative justices claim that...

Justice Antonin Scalia: Al Gore to blame for 2000 US election mess By Toby Harnden in Washington Last Updated: 6:35PM BST 26/06/2008 The 2000 presidential election debacle was the fault of Al Gore, who should have followed Richard Nixon's 1960 example and conceded without legal action, according to the Supreme Court's leading conservative judge. The 2000 election remains a source of discontent for Democrats "Richard Nixon, when he lost to [John F.] Kennedy thought that the election had been stolen in Chicago, which was very likely true with the system at the time," Justice Antonin Scalia told The Telegraph. "But...

Gore, deciding to steal the election go to court, left the Supreme Court with no choice but to take the case.

There's one group of District residents absolutely unfazed by today's U.S. Supreme Court ruling shooting down the District's strict handgun ban: the dudes who have been blowing away their fellow citizens with abandon since the law was put on the books 32 years ago. Operating under the notion that it's better to beg forgiveness than to ask permission, our shooters long ago decided not to wait for the high court's thoughts on the matter. They simply arrogated to themselves the right to keep and bear arms and, with that right, license to shoot and kill, with impunity, whatever and whenever...

Today is the day. The folks at SCOTUS blog will be providing a live blog to follow developments as quickly as possible.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that a murder victim's prior statements cannot be used against her killer because it would violate a defendant's constitutional right to confront witnesses who testify against him. The high court's 6-3 ruling was a victory for Dwayne Giles, who had been convicted by a jury in Los Angeles for the 2002 shooting death of his former girlfriend, Brenda Avie. He was sentenced to at least 50 years in prison. The court majority said the constitutional right to confront a witness applied even if the defendant was responsible for the witness...

Here is video of a conversation on The Charlie Rose Show with outstanding Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. They talk about his life, career and book "Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges." (see video)

Just a theory, but so tantalizing that it warrants a post all its own....

SETON HALL LAW REPORT: DEPT. OF DEFENSE DATA REVEALS NO RELEASED GUANTÁNAMO DETAINEE EVER ATTACKED ANY AMERICANS Dept of Defense’s own data rebuts Justice Scalia’s claim that 30 former GTMO detainees ‘returned to the battlefield’ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Newark, NJ—Seton Hall Law’s Center for Policy and Research has issued a report revealing that Justice Scalia’s dissenting opinion in Boumediene v. Bush, which accords Guantánamo detainees the right to habeas corpus review in federal court, cites inaccurate information that was retracted by its original source, the Department of Defense (DoD). On June 12, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s dissenting opinion on the ruling...

Justice Scalia, speaking at a time when gay marriage, public education, and the war on terror are creating cases that test the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, chose the banquet of a large group of Orthodox Jews here to declare that the Constitution should not be read to "banish the Almighty from the public forum." In a speech delivered last night from a dais on which he was surrounded by venerable, bearded rabbis dressed in black and wearing elegant hats, Justice Scalia drew a sharp distinction between America and Europe. But he decried what he saw as the Supreme...

'It Will Almost Certainly Cause More Americans to Be Killed' by Joel J. Sprayregen The Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling last week means that terrorism detainees captured overseas have the same rights as U.S. citizens facing shoplifting trials at home. This unprecedented expansion of habeas was not a victory, as liberal media smirked, over the President. It was a judicial nullification of procedures carefulyy crafted by both elected branches of Government of procedures carefully tailored to allow review of detentions while remaining mindful of the terrorist threat. The smallest of majorities is disregarding judicial history and pretending we live in a...

Exclusive: Justice Scalia on Gitmo Terror Ruling: It Endangers American Lives by Joel Himelfarb Justice Antonin Scalia offered a chilling observation about last week's 5-4 Supreme Court ruling that terror suspects currently being held at Guantanamo Bay have a constitutional right to challenge their detention in federal court. The decision, which is based on a fundamental misreading of the Constitution and existing case law, "will almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed," Scalia wrote in a blistering dissent, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas. Cut through close to 40 pages of nearly...

Justice Antonin Scalia has been a controversial voice of fidelity to the text of the Constitution and a forceful advocate for conservatism throughout his 22 years on the Supreme Court. Yet Thursday, his dissent in a key ruling in the war on terrorism showed him at his worst. His ill-considered language makes it harder for national leaders to clean up one of the darkest blots on America's reputation in President Bush's post- 9/11 world -- the policy of detaining enemy combatants that is summed up in one word: Guantanamo. The court decided that Guantanamo Bay detainees have the right (known...

"The Nation will live to regret what the Court had done today," Justice Antonin Scalia writes at the end of his dissent in Boumediene v. Bush, the case in which a bare majority of the Supreme Court, for the first time ever, extended rights under the U.S. constitution to enemy combatants who have never set foot on U.S. soil. It's worth noting that the nation has lived to regret things the court has done in earlier wars. In Schenck v. U.S. (1919), the court upheld the conviction of a Socialist Party leader for distributing an anticonscription flier during World War...

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...

Justice Scalia talked about his book, Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges, published by Thomson West, which he wrote with Bryan Garner. The book gives advice to lawyers on presenting oral arguments.

Sunday night on “60 Minutes,” Lesley Stahl interviewed Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Half of the interview was excellent, reviewing his history from his childhood in New York City. The other half of the interview, on his judicial philosophy, was dreadful. Several times, Stahl attacked Scalia for his judicial theory of “originalism,” while leaving parts of his comments on the cutting room floor. She displayed a lack of knowledge about the Constitution. She referred to Scalia’s theory as fixing the meaning of the Constitution as the intentions of “people who ratified it over 200 years ago.” That echoed the comments...

Not many Supreme Court justices become famous, but Antonin Scalia is one of the few. Known as "Nino" to his friends and colleagues, he is one of the most brilliant and combative justices ever to sit on the court and one of the most prominent legal thinkers of his generation. He first agreed to talk to 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl about a new book he's written on how lawyers should address the court. But over the course of several conversations, our story grew into a full-fledged profile - his first major television interview - including discussions about abortion and...

Justice Antonin Scalia on Sunday characterized himself as a social conservative and "a law-and-order guy" whose views do not impact his interpretation of the Constitution. In an interview on CBS' "60 Minutes," Scalia addressed issues from abortion to flag-burning. Were he to approach his job differently, Scalia said, he would adopt the position of abortion opponents who interpret the Constitution to mean that a state must prohibit abortion. But the authors of the Constitution did not write about abortion, so he does not support the approach favored by abortion opponents, said the justice, who is promoting a new book, "Making...

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, in a CBS News interview that will air on Sunday, says the Constitution neither allows legal abortions nor does it prohibit them. Scalia has been outspoken recently about how the Constitution does not guarantee any abortion rights. During the "60 Minutes" interview with correspondent Lesley Stahl, Scalia said the Constitution is silent on the issue of abortion. He said he favors overturning Roe v. Wade, which has ushered in 35 years of unlimited abortions, but says states aren't forced to ban abortions if the case is reversed. "On the abortion thing, for example, if indeed...

People who believe the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision giving the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush was politically motivated should just get over it, says Justice Antonin Scalia. Scalia denies that the controversial decision was political and discusses other aspects of his public and private life in a remarkably candid interview with 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl, this Sunday, April 27, at 7 p.m. ET/PT. "I say nonsense," Scalia responds to Stahl’s observation that people say the Supreme Court’s decision in Gore v. Bush was based on politics and not justice. "Get over it. It’s so old by now....

The Constitution doesn't prohibit abortion any more than it allows it, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia says in a television news interview to be broadcast Sunday. Scalia told CBS News'"60 Minutes" that he may be conservative, but he is not biased on issues that come before the court. "I mean, I confess to being a social conservative, but it does not affect my views on cases," Scalia said in excerpts released Thursday. "On the abortion thing, for example, if indeed I were ... trying to impose my own views, I would not only be opposed to Roe versus Wade, I...

Bristol, RI (LifeNews.com) -- Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia continues to educate the law students of America and, once again, presented his explanation that no right to abortion exists in the Constitution to students at Roger Williams University. Last month, Scalia told students at the University of Central Missouri the same thing.Scalia said a legal right to an abortion is not found in the document that guides our judicial process.If abortion advocates wanted to create a legitimate abortion right, they should rely on passing laws in the legislature rather than asking courts to unilaterally create one, he said.“You want...

 WASHINGTON (AP) - Justice Antonin Scalia took the news media to task Thursday for some recent coverage of the Supreme Court. At a conference of attorneys in Washington, Scalia said news organizations often fail to focus on the text of the laws the court interprets, citing accounts of last month's 8-1 decision that made it harder for consumers to sue makers of federally approved medical devices. He singled out for criticism a New York Times editorial on the case headlined "No Recourse for the Injured." The media often make it appear as though the court is reaching policy judgments on...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned the conviction of a black Louisiana death row inmate because race had played an improper role in the selection of an all-white jury. By a 7-2 vote, the high court ruled for Allen Snyder, who had been convicted and sentenced to death in 1996 for stabbing his estranged wife 15 times and killing a man with whom she was talking. During jury selection in New Orleans, prosecutor James Williams excluded five black potential jurors, resulting in an all-white jury. Defense attorneys objected to the removal of two of the potential...

WASHINGTON -- Justice Antonin Scalia said Tuesday that some physical interrogation techniques could be used on a suspect in the event of an imminent threat, like a hidden bomb about to blow up. In such cases, “smacking someone in the face” could be justified, Justice Scalia told the British Broadcasting Corporation. He added, “You can’t come in smugly and with great self-satisfaction and say, ‘Oh, it’s torture, and therefore it’s no good.’ ” His comments come amid a growing debate about the Bush administration’s use of aggressive interrogation methods on terrorism suspects, including the widely condemned waterboarding, soon after the...

Steven Calabresi, Professor of Law at Northwestern University (http://www.law.northwestern.edu/faculty/fulltime/Calabresi/Calabresi.html) and co-founder of the premiere conservative legal organization, The Federalist Society, who previously backed Rudy has now endorsed John McCain. In an e-mail to me he explained: I have endorsed Senator McCain and think he would be an excellent president because he is tough on foreign policy, committed to spending restraint which is the key to small government, and because he has consistently voted for good judicial nominees in tough fights like Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas. I am not troubled by his role as a member of the gang of...

John McCain is earning more establishment endorsements these days, but prominent Republican lawyers -- a big part of that Capital "E" Establishment --, for the most part, are briefing someone else: Eugene Scalia, son of Justice Antonin Scalia and a former chief lawyer for the labor department, has been neutral in the presidential race until today. He's now aboard Lawyers for Romney, and joining him are about a dozen prominent Republican lawyers who, until Monday, had been supporters of Fred Thompson.

Starkville, MS (LifeNews.com) -- Justice Antonin Scalia told students at Mississippi State University on Thursday that the nation's high court shouldn't be determining the legality of key moral issues like abortion. He said the high court is no more suited to determine if abortion should be legal than the average voter. Scalia is a long-time proponent of overturning Roe v. Wade and letting state's have the ability to determine their own abortion laws. “What I am questioning is the propriety, indeed, the sanity of letting value-laden decisions such as these be made for the entire society,” Scalia told the students...

WASHINGTON – Supreme Court justices indicated Monday they are deeply divided over a challenge to the way most states execute prisoners by lethal injection, which critics say creates an avoidable risk of excruciating pain. With executions in the United States halted since late September, the court heard arguments in a case from Kentucky that calls into question the mix of three drugs used in most executions. Justice Antonin Scalia was among several conservatives on the court who suggested he would uphold Kentucky's method of execution and allow capital punishment to resume. States have been careful to adopt procedures that do...

She is short, powerful and understated. And at one time, she was underestimated. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg made clear her perspective on some issues when she spoke Sunday at an Atlanta synagogue. It matters that women and minorities are on the high court — if only for the public get equal access to the bathroom, she said in one of the lighter moments of her talk. The court itself, while collegial, has entered a period of turbulence with a series of 5-4 decisions that started with Bush v. Gore, the decision that ended the 2000 presidential election...

Rudy Awakening Giuliani’s the-Constitution-made-me-do-it excuse just doesn’t wash. By Douglas W. Kmiec Tuesday night’s Michigan debate was very revealing. The debate revealed the significant executive-leadership differences between Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney. When it gets down to specific cases, Mayor Giuliani is dependent upon others for direction and guidance and is just as likely to fall into mistaken ideas as not. At the same time, the debate revealed how, despite his protestations to the contrary, Giuliani is not really a supporter of conservative legal thinking. The facts on who supports spending restraint and tax reduction are plain. Romney does. Giuliani...

Taken during the beginning of the Canon of the Mass On 29 September 2007, Fr. Paul Scalia, the son of Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, offered a Missa Cantata of the "extraordinary use" of the Mass at St. Rita's Catholic Church in Alexandria, Virginia for Michaelmas (the Feast of Michael the Archangel on the traditional calendar). As far as I know, this is the first public "extraordinary use" Mass since the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum went into effect on 14 September. Elevation of the Body of Christ after the Consecration of the Host. Elevation of Precious Blood of Christ...

I wound up chatting at a reception a couple years ago with Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia about his love of opera and his taste in popular culture. It turned out he was a huge fan of Fox's anti-terrorist drama "24," and he convinced me to watch it for the first time.

I learned with sadness and chagrin that at the recent convention of National Right to Life, the organization's leadership decided to purge the Colorado Chapter because the chapter took to task the pro-life leaders who applauded Justice Kennedy's reasoning in Gonzales v. Carhart — the recent Supreme Court decision on partial birth abortion. (For my analysis of this decision, please see the article "Gardeners of Evil" at RenewAmerica.us.) Unfortunately, this news was not my first inkling of the internecine conflict the decision brought to light within the ranks of the pro-life movement. Judie Brown has been one of the critics...

Time for a True Crime Update and we've some very intriguing items this week. Supreme Court Justice Scalia's daughter is sentenced and Mark Lunsford's son is what? A sex predator? A report on a most heinous crime of the HIV rapists, a snort from DC's infamous sex blogger, and an attack on a teacher caught on tape. Finally, the Judge was a Beatles fan and his punishment is original and chock full of Beatle lyrics.

Under this veteran justice's notion of jurisprudence, courts should look to the Constitution and tradition Sunday, April 15, 2007 "Some men see things as they are and say, why; I dream things that never were and say, why not." N ot Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. At least, not when he's at his day job deciding cases. Dreaming things that never were and saying "why not" is for lawmakers -- presidents and congressmen -- fantasists and, regrettably, too many of Scalia's Supreme Court colleagues who practice "What the hey" judicial activism. Scalia kicked off the University of Portland Garaventa Center's...

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia acknowledges so-called constitutional originalists like him are the minority. But he thinks the group is growing. In a speech to students and faculty members at Stetson University College of Law Wednesday, Scalia criticized those who believe the U.S. Constitution is a living document that can be re-interpreted over time. "The Constitution is not a living organism for Pete's sake," an often witty Scalia told an audience of several hundred people. "It's a legal document. Referring to the chief justice who wrote the landmark Marbury vs. Madison opinion in 1803, Scalia said, "If you told...

WASHINGTON — It has been two decades in the making, but this is the year Justice Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court's most outspoken dissenter, could emerge as a leader of a new conservative majority. Between now and late June, the court is set to hand down decisions in four areas of law — race, religion, abortion regulation and campaign finance — where Scalia's views may now represent the majority. In each of those areas, the retirement of centrist Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and her replacement with Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. figure to tip the court to the right. That...

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Wednesday night explained at length his "originalist" view of the Constitution, disputing the concept that it is a "living document" subject to change in interpretation as time passes. An originalist view of the Constitution, Scalia said in an address at Claremont McKenna College, consists of "taking the text of the Constitution and giving it the meaning it bore when it was written." "Originalism used to be orthodoxy," he said. "Nobody said in the old days, `Oh, the Constitution changes.' The Constitution was a rock to which the society was anchored." Today's Supreme Court, Scalia said,...

WASHINGTON - Three of the five Supreme Court justices who handed the presidency to George W. Bush in 2000 say they had no choice but to intervene in the Florida recount. Comments from Justice Anthony Kennedy and retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor are in a new book that was published this week. Justice Antonin Scalia made his remarks Tuesday at Iona College in New York. Scalia, answering questions after a speech, also said that critics of the 5-4 ruling in Bush v. Gore need to move on six years after the electoral drama of December 2000, when it seemed the...