I feel a little ill over this news. I think Nino Scalia was the greatest justice in the history of the Supreme Court. I saw him several times during Oral Arguments. He was always sharp, incisive, and often witty. I saw him reduce a lawyer into a stammering mess through his challenging questions. I even met him once at the Washington Opera after a performance of Lucia di Lammermoor in 2002 (he was a big opera fan).
The man was a brilliant Originalist and Textualist, who had the guts to call out slopping thinking and inconsistencies. A clerk for Harry Blackmun wrote that the clerks for the left-wing justices were always intimidated and frightened by Scalia’s no-holds-barred dissents. The thought that Obama will get to replace Scalia is horrifying.
excellant , thoughtful post.