March 15, 2005

CONTEMPORARY Supreme Court Justices have have rendered the Constitution useless says Justice Antonin Scalia. Watch the speech here. Quotable:
If we're picking people to draw out of their own conscience and experience a 'new' Constitution, we should not look principally for good lawyers. We should look to people who agree with us .. When we are in that mode, you realize we have rendered the Constitution useless.
Scalia on Republican politician Earl Warren:
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 on the "flexibility" of a Constitution in shreds:
If you think aficionados of a "living Constitution" want to bring you flexibility, think again. 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. Why in the world would you have it interpreted by nine lawyers?
The speech was also covered here and here. Google news search here.

UPDATE: Scalia's speech is simply a must watch. This is powerful stuff. Let me particularly recommend Scalia's remarks between minute 14 and minute 17. Quotable:

So it is literally true -- and I don't think this is an exaggeration -- that the the court has essentially liberated itself from the text of the constitution. From the text and even from the traditions of the American people.
Let me also recommend the discussion between minute 34 through minute 40. Quotable:
The worst thing about the "Living Constitution" is that it will destroy the Constitution."
Bonus clip: minute 42 through minute 45. Posted by Greg Ransom