Justice Scalia: Why he's a bad influence (Cry Baby Can't Take Insults)

LA TImes ^ | 7/14/2015 | Erwin Chemerinsky

[Titus-Maximus]

Justice Antonin Scalia is setting a terrible example for young lawyers. Ignore, for now, his jurisprudence, his famously strict originalism; it's his tone that's the problem.

I have taught argumentation for many years, first as an instructor to high school and college debaters, currently as a law professor. Throughout my career I have always cautioned students away from nastiness as a crutch for those who cannot win using reason or legal precedent. I have told them to stick to persuasion and to dissecting the opposition's logical fallacies.

But lately my students have been turning in legal briefs laced with derision and ad hominem barbs. For this trend, I largely blame Scalia. My students read his work, find it amusing and imitate his truculent style.

Scalia has long relied on ridicule. In past years he has dismissed his colleagues' decisions as "nothing short of ludicrous" and "beyond absurd," "entirely irrational" and not "pass[ing] the most gullible scrutiny." He has called them "preposterous" and "so unsupported in reason and so absurd in application [as] unlikely to survive."

[Titus-Maximus]

Nino is just a big meany!!!!

He can't play with us anymore!

Ironically, it is the targets of his biting tongue that have lost all connection to the written law, and write opinions according to the latest fashion in vogue. Five thousand years of human history, and five robed, self-absorbed, hooded, Ivy League poobahs can radically change the definition of marriage so that a man can marry a man? Scalia was right.

These people have no legal basis to do what they did, save their own arrogance and the stupendous mistake of their position.

Sotomayor, Kagan - what disasters. So knee-jerk and predictable that we really don't even need a Supreme Court. It is miraculous how the Constitution magically dovetails to the ultra leftist beliefs. Never a comment on their voting? Why not?

[G Larry]

Let’s see....

Erwin?

or

Scalia?

Best example for young lawyers?

[altsehastiin]

I think that Prof. Chemerinsky has correctly noticed the symptoms but misdiagnosed the disease. The problem isn’t Scalia’s name-calling, it’s the overall coarsening of our culture, and in particular, the evolving double standard where those on the left are free to use bombastic, ad-hominem rhetoric, while those on the right who do the same are criticized for being “uncivil”. Hold your nose some time and look at the headlines of the articles on salon.com, gawker or (shudder) jezebel - this is how our friends on the left are taught to argue.

[thorvaldr]

Wow, Alinkyite name calling really makes for an informative discussion.

[PATRIOT1876]

Hmmm...who do I want for a judge. Someone who goes by the law and facts or someone who goes by tone and “feelings” when it comes to interpreting the law?

What a conundrum!/s

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

The truth hurts when you have invested yourself so completely into error.

[humblegunner]

Wow, Alinkyite name calling really makes for an informative discussion.

Especially when you can't even spell the term you are trying to use.

[kabar]

...it's his tone that's the problem.

Gee, I wonder we have heard that before.

[trisham]

"Individuals who have been wronged by unlawful racial discrimination should be made whole;
but under our Constitution there can be no such thing as either a creditor or a debtor race.
That concept is alien to the Constitution's focus upon the individual.
...To pursue the concept of racial entitlement - even for the most admirable and benign of purposes
- is to reinforce and preserve for future mischief the way of thinking
that produced race slavery, race privilege and race hatred.

In the eyes of government, we are just one race here.

It is American.”

~Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Mineta, 534 U.S. 103 (1995) (concurring).

Please click the pic

[ForYourChildren]

” it’s his tone that’s the problem. “

Hillary just said the exact same thing about Trump..

Here is Trumps response, “She is desperate, she is sad, and she is obviously very nervous when she has to revert to issues that have already been settled given the absolute accuracy of my statement. She speaks about “my tone” and that’s the problem with our country’s leaders. They are more worried about tone than results! It’s not about being nice— it’s about being competent.”

This tone thing must be a new leftist liberal strategy.

[jsanders2001]

They’ve got a gay liberal progressive judge who’s a former gay scout leader waiting in the wings after they get Scalia booted, right?

[freedumb2003]

Erwin Chemerinsky makes Alinsky look like John Birch.

Chemerinsky has an encyclopedic knowledge of the USC, but he uses tortured argumentation to try to make it support his Socialism doctrine.

It is like reading a library of Chilton’s and/or Hayne’s manuals and declaring yourself the winner of the Indy 500.

It is always painful to watch/read.

[ilovesarah2012]

Time to Fight the Religious Right

Erwin Chemerinsky

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erwin-chemerinsky/time-to-fight-the-religio_b_8048.html

That’s all I need to know about this POS.

[CdMGuy]

Erwin Chemerinsky, the left wing law professor from UC Irvine is not fit to shine Nino’s shoes. All Erwin is capable of is preaching left wing nonsense.

[jsanders2001]

A picture is worth a thousand words. In this case maybe 2,000. No the picture is NOT altered. He also supports gay marriage and it would not surprise me one bit if he wants to oust Scalia so he can take his place:

[darkangel82]

Chemerinsky is a communist(a real one- not a half-a$s 0bama type) so nothing he has to say has any relevance to anything.

[philetus]

Another reason why they don’t like Scalia or the Constitution.

[A_Former_Democrat]

His “tone” is entirely appropriate

He’s calling out out of control Justices.

Funny how the Loudmouth Left always gets in an uproar when conservatives get angry . . .after telling the truth

People like Edwin C are embarrassments to the bar and to the country. Perversion of the Constitution is the worst of offenses

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

You have the coarsening of the culture down right. I recently visited Canada, which is full of warm, friendly people who use their turn signals and say “aboat” and “sorey” and “eh?”

I felt ambivalent about coming back to the USA because of 0bama and the political situation, but I wasn’t even thinking of having to deal with all the meanies, zombies and @$$holes down here, who seem to be remarkably few in number north of the border.

[windsorknot]

When you’re dealing with the Hard Left, reason, logic, critical thinking, and civil discourse get you nowhere.