I’m nervous about our civic culture. I’m not sure the Internet is largely the cause of it. It’s certainly the cause of careless writing. People who get used to blurbing things on the Internet are never going to be good writers. – Antonin Scalia
As a young man, you’re dazzled by the power of the White House and all that. But power tends to corrupt. – Antonin Scalia
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!’ – Antonin Scalia
The main business of a lawyer is to take the romance, the mystery, the irony, the ambiguity out of everything he touches. – Antonin Scalia
Originalism says that when you consult the text, you give it the meaning it had when it was adopted, not some later modern meaning. – Antonin Scalia
Power tends to corrupt. But the power in Washington resides in Congress, if it wants to use it. It can do anything – it can stop the Vietnam War, it can make its will felt, if it can ever get its act together to do anything. – Antonin Scalia
Being a good person begins with being a wise person. Then, when you follow your conscience, will you be headed in the right direction. – Antonin Scalia
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. – Antonin Scalia
There exists in some parts of the world sanctimonious criticism of America’s death penalty, as somehow unworthy of a civilized society. – Antonin Scalia
There are those who contend that it does not benefit African-Americans to get them into the University of Texas where they do not do well, as opposed to having them go to a less-advanced school, a slower-track school where they do well. – Antonin Scalia
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. – Antonin Scalia
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? – Antonin Scalia
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. – Antonin Scalia
I do accept that, with – with respect to those vague terms in the Constitution such as equal protection of the laws, due process of law, cruel and unusual punishments. I fully accept that those things have to apply to new phenomena that didn’t exist at the time. – Antonin Scalia
Indeed, follow your star if you want to head north and it’s the North Star. But if you want to head north and it’s Mars, you had better follow somebody else’s star. – Antonin Scalia
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. – Antonin Scalia
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. – Antonin Scalia
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. – Antonin Scalia
Society’s mores have changed, and what used to be thought not to be cruel and unusual now is thought to be cruel and unusual. – Antonin Scalia
Until the courts put a stop to it, public debate over same-sex marriage displayed American democracy at its best. Individuals on both sides of the issue passionately, but respectfully, attempted to persuade their fellow citizens to accept their views. – Antonin Scalia
Because values change, legislatures abolish the death penalty, permit same-sex marriage if they want, abolish laws against homosexual conduct. That’s how the change in a society occurs. Society doesn’t change through a Constitution. – Antonin Scalia
I’m a law-and-order guy. I mean, I confess I’m a social conservative, but it does not affect my views on cases. – Antonin Scalia
There is nothing new in the realization that the Constitution sometimes insulates the criminality of a few in order to protect the privacy of us all. – Antonin Scalia
