Scalia Slams Court Decision

Antonin Scalia, in a 35-minute speech at the Woodrow Wilson Center, a Washington think tank, slammed the Court's juvenile death penalty decision because unelected judges have no business deciding abortion or the death penalty. He said that the rationale "evolving notions of decency" was simply the personal preference of the 5 majority judges.

"If you think aficionados of a living Constitution want to bring you flexibility, think again," Scalia told an audience at the Woodrow Wilson Center, a Washington think tank. "You think the death penalty is a good idea? Persuade your fellow citizens to adopt it. You want a right to abortion? Persuade your fellow citizens and enact it. That's flexibility."

The Conservative Crust has a nice post on the speech and asks an appropriate question. In speaking of a California judge's decision to outlaw a voter proposition that defined marriage between a man and a woman, which was approved by 61% of voters in 2000, he asks, "Flexibility? Freedom? By the way, does 61 percent qualify as a "mandate?"

Scalia also mentioned the problem with Chief Justice Earl Warren (1953-69): "You have a chief justice who was a governor, a policy-maker, who approached the law with that frame of mind. Once you have a leader with that mentality, it's hard not to follow." Scalia continued, "When we are in that mode, you realize we have rendered the Constitution useless."

Predictably, some in the news suggested that Scalia is simply campaigning for the Chief Justice slot. MSNBC's article was titled, "Is Scalia Campaigning for Chief Justice?" The Washington Post described the speech as "part demystification, part stump speech."