Justice Antonin Scalia's Dissent

National Review ^ | Dec. 10, 2003 | Justice Antonin Scalia

[Remember_Salamis]

If you love your freedom and your constitution, you'll want to hear the gospel from the most prominent constitutionalist alive today. Justice Antonin Scalia is what's keeping US from entering the abyss of judicial tyranny.

[4CJ]

This litigation is about preventing criticism of the government. I cannot say for certain that many, or some, or even any, of the Members of Congress who voted for this legislation did so not to produce "fairer" campaigns, but to mute criticism of their records and facilitate reelection.

In a nutshell.

[coloradan]

We have witnessed merely the second scene of Act I of what promises to be a lengthy tragedy.

Scalia has such a way with words!

[Sacajaweau]

The problem is the scumbags in politics but they'll get to us one way or another. Wait till your phone starts ringing with scummy political messages (and they're not prohibited by "do not call" legislation).

Please God, somehow, give us a few more Scalias on the bench.

[vbmoneyspender]

according to some on this site, Scalia must be an anarchist because he opposed CFR and wanted associations of people to be able to keep their God-given right to criticize fellow citizens who have been elected to political office.

[Molly Pitcher]

Thank you thank you for posting this. Hats off to Justice Scalia for his support of the Constitution.

We can never be too busy to read such wisdom and truth.

[Ancesthntr]

The first instinct of power is the retention of power, and, under a Constitution that requires periodic elections, that is best achieved by the suppression of election time speech.

Scalia hit the nail on the head with this one. The 1st Amendment was proposed and ratified to prevent just such suppression of political speech as has been permitted by Scalia's 5 collegues - and now the 1st Amendment is not worth much more than used toilet paper. Thank you, Souter & O'Connor!

[Ancesthntr]

The first instinct of power is the retention of power, and, under a Constitution that requires periodic elections, that is best achieved by the suppression of election time speech.

Scalia hit the nail on the head with this one. The 1st Amendment was proposed and ratified to prevent just such suppression of political speech as has been permitted by Scalia's 5 collegues - and now the 1st Amendment is not worth much more than used toilet paper. Thank you, Souter & O'Connor!

[Ancesthntr]

Sorry about the double post.

[Wally_Kalbacken]

In the late 70’s I attended one of Scalia’s lectures at the University of Chicago Law School. All of the students in the class were first rate – but they were all nervous as long tailed cats in a room full of rocking chairs as Scalia fired questions at them. His intellect was way down the road and the class was struggling to stay within sight of him.

Unfortunately he hasn’t had the right support on the Court, and it seems unlikely that Bush will nominate him to succeed Rehnquist (unless the GOP gets 60 votes in the Senate after the ’04 election). So he may go down in history as nothing more than an extremely eloquent dissenting voice.

I don’t see how we can get there given the majority’s support for McCain Feingold, but the best regulation of campaign financing is no regulation at all, but rather a system that gives full and instantaneous disclosure of contributions and expenditures.

I would suggest the elimination of all financial limits (contributions or expenditures) with the institution of a central clearinghouse for contributions. If I wanted to contribute to Kerry (God forbid!), I send a check to the central clearing house, and information on my identity and the amount of my contribution is posted on the FEC website simultaneous with the EFT transmission of $ to the Kerry campaign’s accounts. Likewise – expenditures can be monitored and posted as they occur on the FEC site.

Add draconian penalties for the expenditure of any money on a campaign, which cannot be traced through these accounts – and you have full disclosure for voters to ponder and no infringement on the First Amendment.

[Iconoclast2]

More accurately, Justice Scalia documents our descent into the abyss.

[Constitution Day]

BUMP to read tonight.

[ml/nj]

Justice Antonin Scalia

Just so we're clear on who Scalia is, he's the guy who asked, "Who cares?" of Allan Favish last week in regard to Allan's Freedom of Information case seeking access to evidence concerning the death of Vincent Foster.

I felt like jumping up and yelling, "Et tu Brute?" but the I knew the Supreme Court goons would have squashed me like a bug, free speech notwithstanding.

ML/NJ

[nmh]

I agree but don't want you to leave out another partner of his - Clarence Thomas. He too is a God fearing man that brings reason to the table, despite how unpopular that is.

[TheAngryClam]

I wonder if he's aware that he cited Ralph Nader's U.S. PIRG at one point, or if his clerks slipped that one past him.

[HenryLeeII]

Your moniker has never been more accurate...

[Mr.Atos]

Thank you for posting Scalia's Dissent. His words are a reminder that not everyone in Washington has forgotten the intent of the Constitution.

Better watch this guy before he dissappears to go live in a remote valley in Colorado to a run general store.

[Brilliant]

The SCOTUS says that it was compelled to do what it did in order to protect the integrity of our political system, but I predict this will have the opposite effect, with the majority party manipulating the campaign finance laws to disadvantage the minority, much like the politicians already do when they gerrymander Congressional districts. McCain/Feingold already does that to a degree because it left direct labor union political expenditures untouched, while restricting all other sources of political funding.

[k2blader]

Justice Antonin Scalia is what's keeping US from entering the abyss of judicial tyranny.

He's trying to, and thank God!

Unfortunately, we're already sliding down into the abyss.

[proud American in Canada]

Thank you for posting this dissent.

I urge anyone reading this thread who wants to get involved in repealing this odious law to join us here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1038470/posts

So far, conservative talk radio host Mike Rosen has personally written me and said that submitting a bill on the very first day that Congress returns next January is a "great idea: clear, concise and correct."

I've written to Tom Tancredo and asked him to initiate the bill; perhaps someone else, someone GW will support, might be more appropriate.

In any case, we've got to get this done, so Freepers who are interested in joining a CFR repeal ping list, join up on the above link.