"Portions of this book were originally published in 2004 under the title 'Scalia Dissents: Writings of the Supreme Court's Wittiest, Most Outspoken Justice' (ISBN 978-0-89526-053-6)"--Title page verso.
Prescient. Principled. Profound.
Those words epitomized Justice Antonin Scalia, for nearly thirty years the most brilliant and controversial member of the Supreme Court and one of the liveliest writers in its history.
Matched with Scalia’s brilliance was a rare judicial humility—the conviction that the law should not be based on any judge’s whim or preference but on the original intent of the Constitution’s Framers. In many of his dissents, he sounded the alarm against judicial activism, relentlessly defending the rights reserved by the Constitution to the people and their states.
In Scalia’s Court, Kevin Ring has assembled the great jurist’s best and most powerful opinions, showcasing the quotable justice’s take on issues of enduring importance, including contentious constitutional debates that continue today.
Here's Scalia on:
The "Living" Constitution
"I defend a dead Constitution."
Same-Sex Marriage
"To allow the policy question of same-sex marriage to be considered and resolved by a select, patrician, highly unrepresentative panel of nine is to violate a principle even more fundamental than no taxation without representation: no social transformation without representation."
Affirmative Action
“In the eyes of government, we are just one race here. It is American.”
Obamacare
"The Court forgets that ours is a government of laws and not of men. That means we are governed by the terms of our laws, not by the unenacted will of our lawmakers."
Religious Freedom
"A priest has as much liberty to proselytize as a patriot."
Abortion
"It thus appears the mansion of constitutionalized abortion law, constructed overnight in Roe v. Wade, must be disassembled doorjamb by doorjamb…"
Judicial Activism
"No government official is 'tempted' to place restraints on his own freedom of action, which is why Lord Acton did not say ‘Power tends to purify.'"
Jurists like Scalia come only once in a generation, if that; and their absence from the Court, especially in times like these, can leave a dangerous, ominous vacancy. Scalia’s Court is the perfect way to remember his legacy as a constitutional patriot—and may be the best handbook for protecting our future.
"Justice Scalia did more to advance originalism and judicial restraint than anyone in our time, and it all started with just two words: 'I dissent.' The passing of this brilliant jurist is a great loss, but his writings—with their plain language and constitutional moorings—will guide generations to come."
—Speaker of the House Paul Ryan
"He was a jurist of captivating brilliance and wit, with a rare talent to make even the most sober judge laugh. The press referred to his 'energetic fervor,' 'astringent intellect,' 'peppery prose,' 'acumen,' and 'affability,' all apt descriptions. He was eminently quotable, his pungent opinions so clearly stated that his words never slipped from the reader's grasp."
—Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, U.S. Supreme Court
