Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia found dead

LooseGoose wrote:Obama should make the recess appointment, it would set off a firestorm but ultimately would be less divisive.

Tim Wakefield wrote:'Antonin' is a pretty cool name.

Mark Joseph Stern is a writer for Slate. He covers the law and LGBTQ issues.

Liberals—and, as a shorthand, many journalists—labeled Scalia a “conservative.” That was true as far as political temperament went; from his notorious friendship with Dick Cheney to his thinly veiled delight at the outcome of Bush v. Gore, Scalia was a Republican at heart. But to call him nothing more than a “conservative” would be to overlook the remarkable nuance and complexity of his jurisprudence. Scalia cast a decisive vote in the most important free speech case of the 1980s, Texas v. Johnson, which held that flag burning qualified as constitutionally protected expression. He wrote the landmark majority opinion in 2011’s Brown v. EMA, a double victory for First Amendment advocates that protected both depictions of violence and minors’ rights. And he dissented in Maryland v. King, arguing that the Fourth Amendment forbids law enforcement from collecting DNA from arrestees. (His fierce dissent sounds like it could have sprung from the pen of Edward Snowden.)

Despite his King vote, Scalia was widely viewed by many Americans as a harshly law-and-order justice. Again, that label is simply inaccurate. In many contexts, Scalia was extraordinarily protective of Americans’ right to privacy—though he himself would never use that term. He wrote the majority opinion in Kyllo v. United States, a 5-4 ruling that barred police from peeping into a home with a thermal-imaging device. He also wrote the majority opinion in Florida v. Jardines (another 5-4 decision), barring police from entering private property with a drug-sniffing dog without a warrant. Time and time again, he cast votes to protect drivers from intrusive car searches by law enforcement. Just last term, he sided against the police in a landmark ruling that restored constitutional rights to motorists illegally detained by cops.

And then there’s his view of the Confrontation Clause, which guarantees every criminal defendant the right “to be confronted with the witnesses against him.” The Framers of the Constitution intended the clause to forbid hearsay in the courtroom, allowing every defendant to cross-examine, under oath, those who offer testimonial evidence against him. Before Scalia joined the court, this crucial safeguard against faulty trial testimony had been reduced to a constitutional vestigial limb. As a justice, Scalia embarked on an astonishing and almost entirely successful crusade to restore the clause’s place in the pantheon of civil liberties. In a series of landmark rulings—many authored by Scalia himself—he endeavored to halt the trend of prosecutors introducing dubious hearsay evidence against defendants. This crusade often aligned the justice with unexpected allies, such as Ruth Bader Ginsburg (with whom he was great friends) and Sonia Sotomayor (with whom he was not). And just last term, Scalia took on his frequent ideological bedmate, Justice Samuel Alito, when he sensed Alito “shoveling … fresh dirt” on the newly restored right. The Confrontation Clause was Scalia’s fight; if he had to vote with Sotomayor or against Alito to reach the right result, so be it.

Robert J Sakimano wrote:I wonder if he's getting sodomized in hell yet?

Watch Out Pylon! wrote:

Robert J Sakimano wrote:I wonder if he's getting sodomized in hell yet?

We are at Defcon 1 people! The Goose/Bob war is about to go nuclear.

Watch Out Pylon! wrote:

Robert J Sakimano wrote:I wonder if he's getting sodomized in hell yet?

We are at Defcon 1 people! The Goose/Bob war is about to go nuclear.

LooseGoose wrote:

Watch Out Pylon! wrote:
We are at Defcon 1 people! The Goose/Bob war is about to go nuclear.

Nope. Bob is doing a fine job of showing what a jackass he is with that comment, needs no help from me.

DWags wrote:

LooseGoose wrote:

Nope. Bob is doing a fine job of showing what a jackass he is with that comment, needs no help from me.

Here comes the kid that won't stop humming in the car. This thread will suck now. Be joyed it this weekend. Buh bye.

steveschneider wrote:How long before some conspiracy nut blames Obama for Scalia's death?

LooseGoose wrote:Sounds like an evil man to me.



From a 2010 speech.

Justice Antonin Scalia, dissenting wrote:
This Court has never held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who has had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a habeas court that he is “actually” innocent.

SpartanInNH wrote:

LooseGoose wrote:Sounds like an evil man to me.



From a 2010 speech.

From a 2008 dissent:

Justice Antonin Scalia, dissenting wrote:
This Court has never held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who has had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a habeas court that he is “actually” innocent.

In re Troy Anthony Davis, 557 U.S. 952, 955 (2009)

Innocence be damned. If the law says you're a dead man walking, by God, so shall you be, according to the late Justice Scalia.

I rejoice over the death of no man. I do rejoice over the possibility, because that's all it is, that the country's highest court will no longer elevate form over what that form was meant to protect, to wit, life, liberty, and the pursuit of freedom.

Robert J Sakimano wrote:hold the phone.. according to Drudge, not only was SCALIA FOUND WITH PILLOW OVER HIS HEAD but he also...

Refused Security Detail While at Ranch

with a colored boy in the White House and a woman who killed 4 brave Americans with her email server in Benghazi, I don't like the way this feels.

Turtleneck wrote:

Robert J Sakimano wrote:hold the phone.. according to Drudge, not only was SCALIA FOUND WITH PILLOW OVER HIS HEAD but he also...

Refused Security Detail While at Ranch

with a colored boy in the White House and a woman who killed 4 brave Americans with her email server in Benghazi, I don't like the way this feels.

Does the Drudge Report have the same web designer as FinalFourU?

Turtleneck wrote:I do not want to disrupt the narrative we have going that he was a monster, but...

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/14/politics/antonin-scalia-ruth-bader-ginsburg-friends/

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg-justice-antonin-scalia-we-were-best-n518671

SpartanInNH wrote:

Turtleneck wrote:I do not want to disrupt the narrative we have going that he was a monster, but...

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/14/politics/antonin-scalia-ruth-bader-ginsburg-friends/

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg-justice-antonin-scalia-we-were-best-n518671

You can have a terrible effect on the country and still be a great guy to have a beer with. Just ask Bob.

Robert J Sakimano wrote:

steveschneider wrote:How long before some conspiracy nut blames Obama for Scalia's death?

the Drudge headline right now:

SCALIA FOUND WITH PILLOW OVER HIS HEAD

seriously.

Robert J Sakimano wrote:Michele Bachmann - Sarah Palin's smarter sister - referred to him as "Anthony Scalia" on Twitter..

Turtleneck wrote:

Robert J Sakimano wrote:Michele Bachmann - Sarah Palin's smarter sister - referred to him as "Anthony Scalia" on Twitter..

Yeah, I am not so sure about the "smarter" angle you're going with.

Robert J Sakimano wrote:

Turtleneck wrote:

Yeah, I am not so sure about the "smarter" angle you're going with.

I think it's a race to the bottom for those two. Just the way republicans like their women.

LooseGoose wrote:

Robert J Sakimano wrote:

I think it's a race to the bottom for those two. Just the way republicans like their women.

Watch Out Pylon! wrote:

LooseGoose wrote:

Is that Hillary's prettier sister?

LooseGoose wrote:Mark Knoller ‏@markknoller 1h1 hour ago
Former law clerks of Justice Scalia await arrival of his casket at the Supreme Court.

Shannon Bream ‏@ShannonBream 1h1 hour ago
Former Scalia clerks lining the stairs, serving as honorary pallbearers.