As long as judges tinker with the Constitution to ‘do what the people want,’ instead of what the document actually commands, politicians who pick and confirm new federal judges will naturally want only those who agree with them politically.
ANTONIN SCALIADay by day, case by case, the Supreme Court is busy designing a Constitution for a country I do not recognize.
More Antonin Scalia Quotes
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In the eyes of government we are just one race here. It is American.
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You could have 50 different states having 50 different regulations until they were all litigated out.
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Campaign promises are – by long democratic tradition – the least binding form of human commitment.
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This is so absurd that it has, to my knowledge, never been contemplated.
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[International law] doesn’t show what the Constitution originally meant, and it doesn’t show what is fundamentally important to Americans today. It shows what’s fundamentally important to somebody else today.
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In a big family the first child is kind of like the first pancake. If it’s not perfect, that’s okay, there are a lot more coming along.
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The Court today completes the process of converting Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 from a guarantee that race or sex will not be the basis for often will.
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Certainly one cannot ban cross burning in the sanctity of his bedroom.
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If we cannot have moral feelings against homosexuality, can we have it against murder? Can we have it against other things?
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[The] government has room to scale back individual rights during wartime without violating the Constitution. The Constitution just sets minimums. Most of the rights that you enjoy go way beyond what the Constitution requires.
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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.
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Persuade your fellow citizens it’s a good idea and pass a law. That’s what democracy is all about. It’s not about nine superannuated judges who have been there too long, imposing these demands on society.
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A law can be both economic folly and constitutional.
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The wise do not investigate such silliness.
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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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