Antonin Scalia

Judge

1936-03-11 – 2016-02-13

American jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1986 to 2016. He was a leading advocate of textualism and originalism in constitutional interpretation. His opinions had lasting influence on American legal theory and practice.

Quotes by Antonin Scalia

Interior decorating is a rock-hard science compared to psychology practiced by amateurs.
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A written constitution is needed to protect values AGAINST prevailing wisdom.
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Interior decorating is a rock-hard science compared to psychology practiced by amateurs.
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A written constitution is needed to protect values AGAINST prevailing wisdom.
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Some people are inherently likeable. If you're not - work on it. It may even improve your social life.
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If I have brought any message today, it is this: Have the courage to have your wisdom regarded as stupidity. Be fools for Christ. And have the courage to suffer the contempt of the sophisticated world.
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I spent my junior year in Switzerland. On the way back home, I spent some time in England, and I remember going to Hyde Park Corner. And there was a Roman Catholic priest in his collar, standing on a soapbox, preaching the Catholic faith and being heckled by a group. And I thought, 'My goodness.' I thought that was admirable.
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Originalism is sort of subspecies of textualism. Textualism means you are governed by the text. That's the only thing that is relevant to your decision, not whether the outcome is desirable, not whether legislative history says this or that. But the text of the statute.
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I watched 'The Sopranos,' I saw a couple of episodes of 'Mad Men.' I loved 'Seinfeld.' In fact, I got some CDs of 'Seinfeld.' 'Seinfeld' was hilarious. Oh, boy. The Nazi soup kitchen? 'No soup for you!'
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I think Thomas Jefferson would have said the more speech, the better.
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A search is a search, even if it happens to disclose nothing but the bottom of a turntable.
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I am something of a contrarian, I suppose. I feel less comfortable when everybody agrees with me. I say, 'I better reexamine my position!' I probably believe that the worst opinions in my court have been unanimous. Because there's nobody on the other side pointing out all the flaws.
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If you condemn someone who has committed a crime to be tortured, that would be unconstitutional.
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If there's anything you absolutely hate, why, it must be unconstitutional. Or, if there's anything you absolutely have to have, it must be required by the Constitution. That's where we are. That is utterly mindless.
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What secret knowledge, one must wonder, is breathed into lawyers when they become Justices of this Court that enables them to discern that a practice which the text of the Constitution does not clearly proscribe, and which our people have regarded as constitutional for 200 years, is in fact unconstitutional?
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And what I would say now is, yes, if a state enacted a law permitting flogging, it is immensely stupid, but it is not unconstitutional. A lot of stuff that's stupid is not unconstitutional.
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I would not like to be replaced by someone who immediately sets about undoing what I've tried to do for 25-26 years.
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If you are sentenced to torture for a crime, yes, that is a cruel punishment. But the mere fact that somebody is tortured is - is unlawful under - under our statutes, but the Constitution happens not to address it, just as it does not address a lot of other horrible things.
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Like most rights, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited... It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.
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There exists in some parts of the world sanctimonious criticism of America's death penalty, as somehow unworthy of a civilized society.
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