Justice Scalia

The New Yorker's Amy Davidson profiles Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia this week. The piece is not online, but the magazine has a question and answer with Davidson about her piece on line, which is very interesting.

Scalia is eviscerated by many liberals, but Davidson, who we can assume is far to the left, got to know him a little, and her opinion is more objective.

"He’s so polarizing because he is very clear and very adamant about the method of constitutional interpretation that he stands for—originalism—and he has a kind of polemical zeal about making the case for it. He’s really out there on the law-school speaking circuit, making his argument in a forceful way; I was impressed to see how willing he is to take hostile questions and engage with people. He’s also quite funny. The other Justices tend to give pretty anodyne speeches—talking about their upbringings, or telling inspirational or educational stories about the great justices and cases of the past. But Scalia is laying out his approach and telling you in no uncertain terms how dangerous it is for American democracy and the American Constitution if judges don’t follow it."