In Your Dreams, Scalia
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia can kiss my big blue butt.
Scalia goes to speak at SMU and says —
He spoke of schoolchildren coming to visit the Supreme Court and calling the Constitution a “living document.”
“It’s not a living document. It’s dead, dead, dead,” he said.
What the hell? If it’s dead, you sorry sonuvabitch, it’s because you killed it.
You little pipsqueak, allow me to remind you of the words of Barbara Jordan during the impeachment of Richard Nixon —
Earlier today, we heard the beginning of the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States: “We, the people.” It’s a very eloquent beginning. But when that document was completed on the seventeenth of September in 1787, I was not included in that “We, the people.” I felt somehow for many years that George Washington and Alexander Hamilton just left me out by mistake. But through the process of amendment, interpretation, and court decision, I have finally been included in “We, the people.”
Today I am an inquisitor. An hyperbole would not be fictional and would not overstate the solemnness that I feel right now. My faith in the Constitution is whole; it is complete; it is total. And I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction, of the Constitution.
Scalia needs to resign. If the constitution is dead, then I don’t have the right to vote.
This walleyed snot nosed hissy fit is brought to you thanks to Texas Ellen.
“Garner said that though he and Scalia differ politically, they agree on staying true to the law and on separating politics from legal interpretation.”
Hmm, Garner seems to be blind or way too polite, because I certainly don’t believe that Scalia’s legal interpretations are in any way kept seperate from his political affiliations.
1Scalia is Catholic. The Founders did not trust the Catholic Church. So if he really cared about the “intent of the Founders”, shouldn’t he have refused appointment to the bench?
2School children, the future of our great nation. Way to give ’em a pep talk Scalia.
3Scalia needs to depart from the bench and take Thomas with him. I don’t know how or when, but tomorrow would not be too soon for the sake of our country.
4If the Constitution is dead, ask Justice (sic) Scalia why he and his cohorts have the ability to judge an act of Congress unconstitutional.
No such power exists in the document. Marshal saw a need and created it.
5Sorry, my phone sneezed. The Founders had sense. The Catholic church has been meddling in other people’s politics since at least the 300’s. Antonin Scalia has a blind spot as big as he is: he doesn’t like immigrants because he is already here; he doesn’t like secular people because he is religious; he doesn’t like liberal people because he is conservative. He wants the Constitution to be dead so he can reshape it to be defined in his own image, a snapshot of a time he personally approved, never to change.
As I said, the Founders had sense – Justice Scalia, not so much
6One of the commenters over on the Esquire Politics Blog on the Scalia appearance at SMU suggested that, for the next Supreme Court opening, the president nominate a certain very intelligent Constitutional law professor who teaches at Brandeis. It will never happen but it would be oh so sweet if Anita Hill were to be nominated and confirmed.
7Please excuse the ten-minute delay while I hoist my jaw back into place after reading Scalia’s pronouncement that our beloved Constitution is “dead”. You mean I missed the funeral? There wasn’t even an obituary in the paper! But Aggieland Liz, let’s not knock an entire religion because some of its adherents are obnoxious, misogynist, and otherwise bigoted reactionaries who wants to mess with our Constitutional rights. Plenty of those in Protestant churches too; their pictures show up regularly on Juanita’s website.
8JJ,
Thank you. Excellent.
This was my email signature for many years:
“My faith in the Constitution is whole; it is complete; it is total. And I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction, of the Constitution.”
9Scalia is dead, dead, dead of heart. Barbara Jordan will live in my heart forever.
10If the Constitution is dead, why does Scalia have a job?
11QuakerGranny, I AM a Roman Catholic! Can you deny they are still meddling? I’ll cite examples if you like! Also, I was careful to say that Scalia was religious, not blaming his Catholicism. I know many religious persons of all persuasions who despise their non religious brethren, but I know plenty who embrace them too.
Gonna go back up and re-read my post, I didnt mean to be unclear!
12If the Constitution were the dead document Scalia invokes, the Second Amendment would be confined to ball and wad guns; corporations would have no rights; and a certain recount in Florida would have determined the President in 2000.
13JJ, thank you for the link to Barbara Jordan’s speech. On that site, 100 of America’s greatest speeches, she has two. Anita Hill has one. Scalia…. Scalia who?
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/top100speechesall.html
14If a Supreme said the Constitution is dead, then there’s no need for the Supreme Court to exist. Maybe Scalia has just developed dementia as well as an enlarged prostate like all guys his age & it’s a major distraction for his brain.
15Anita Hill? If only we could be so lucky to get her, but the president used up his female chits already.
16According to the corpulant postulant, the words of the Constitution mean exactly and precisely what they meant to the people of the late 18th and early 19th century. So I guess “keep and bear” were equivalent to “buy and own”. Or maybe his cilice is cutting off the blood flow to the organ he uses to form his opinions.
17Justice Scalia is wrong. The Constitution was and is meant to be a living, breathing, flexible document to enable the country to adjust to the times socially and technology-wise. If anything is dead, it is his suborn, outdated brand of neo-conservatism. Judicial activism in action that most real conservatives would not agree with. The Constitution is not a straight-jacket, it is a loose fitting comfortable set of clothes. My Constitution is still very much alive, sorry Mr. Justice about yours.
18Scalia is a pure right-wing ideologue. His mind’s made up —
19don’t confuse him with the facts!
Thank you for that link Rhea! It is absolutely wonderful. I am sending it to my college age kids for reference.
20Well, gosh golly! Did Antonin Scalia feel and think this way about the Constitution when he raised his hand to take the oath upon becoming a justice on the Supreme Court? Hmm. Wouldn’t he have been committing a crime when he did that? Scalia is just asking for it constitutionally and considering all the constitution is a living document proponents out there, he should really get it! The Chief Justice should be asking this twerp if he really believes what he says and what is he still doing warming a chair on the Supreme Court!
21Scalia is a liar, a whore, a thief in the night. He does not follow the law when it conflicts with his own purposes; take for example his role in electing George W. As a Supreme Court Justice he is on a level with Roger Taney. Despite all of that, I would willingly pour his favorite alcoholic beverage over his grave, after filtering it through my kidneys first. But that probably would require standing in line.
22In my opinion, Scalia will not retire EVER. He will die while still on the bench. As far as “original” intent of the Founding Fathers, I cannot imagine that they thought any body other than a WASP male would ever serve in the federal government. They were, to a man, WASPs. That was their world paradigm. An Italian on the Supreme Court is not something they would have embraced.
23Can I just give a *like* to all the comments I’ve read here?
And, a special thanks to “Uncle Dave”, and to “James Meyers” and to all the rest of the folks who speak truth to power.
Barbara Jordan may be gone, but her words live.
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