Antonin Scalia Quotes (45 Quotes)

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.

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.

What is a moderate interpretation of the text? Halfway between what it really means and what you'd like it to mean?

I'm not even sure I wanted it, to tell you the truth,

is to give live-birth abortion free rein.

The line between protected pornography and unprotected obscenity lies between appealing to a good healthy interest in sex and appealing to a depraved interest, whatever that means,

forcing political parties to associate with those who do not share their beliefs. And it has done this at the crucial juncture at which party members traditionally find their collective voice and select their spokesman.

the interest of the overwhelming majority of religious believers in being able to give God thanks and supplication as a people, and with respect to our national endeavors.

Why can't the state accede to the public's wishes?

Mere factual innocence is no reason not to carry out a death sentence properly reached

Let me be clear that I have nothing against homosexuals, or any other group, promoting their agenda though normal democratic means,

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.

I saw nothing amiss in that friendly letter and invitation, ... I surely would have thought otherwise if I had applied the standards urged in the present motion.

one of the great minds of our generation, of our time.

is locked in the heart of the president.

We are unwilling to send police and judges into a new thicket of 4th Amendment law, to seek a creature of uncertain description that is neither a plain-view inspection nor yet a full-blown search.

that the jury is not.

I would think the normal assumption is if one person wants that search excluded, that search is excluded.

Maybe he wanted to buy a new crutch for Tiny Tim, ... Please, counselor, don't read all these tenderhearted things into it.

Does it stop being a quota because it is somewhere between eight and 12 percent, but it is a quota if it is 10 percent ... Once you use that term 'critical mass,' you're in quota land.

The honor would have been wonderful.

A judge's lack of predisposition regarding the relevant legal issues in a case has never been thought a necessary component of equal justice, and with good reason, ... For one thing, it is virtually impossible to find a judge who does not have preconceptions about the law.

It was at most an irresponsibly speedy chase, ... Is there any evidence that there was an intent to kill anybody

a serious inability of our political branches to conduct international affairs.

A journalistic purpose could be someone with a Xerox machine in a basement.

Roberts quoted approvingly from comments by Professor Scalia ... recognized that non-uniformity in the interpretation of federal law could be criticized as 'sloppy,' but asked compared to what Given the choice between non-uniformity and the uniform imposition of the judicial excesses embodied in Roe v. Wade, Scalia was prepared to choose the former alternative.

The first instinct of power is the retention of power, and under a Constitution that requires periodic elections, that is best achieved by the suppression of election-time speech,

He had a skin problem ... Who would have thought this could lead to cold-blooded murder

It would be in the best interest of many children to take them away from their parents and give them to someone else. But the parents have rights.

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.

You could have 50 different states having 50 different regulations... until they were all litigated out.

Why isn't there a fear of extortion if the speech could help destroy his business

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.

If there was anybody that has been sort of the social glue of the court, it's been Sandra and I will miss her,

Many times in the campaign I said a few things like that without thinking through the implications of what I was saying.

Are you saying Thanksgiving proclamations are inappropriate ... I don't see why the one is good and the other is bad.

I don't know. I wouldn't want to go through it today, I'll tell you that much.

What distinguishes the rule of law from the dictatorship of a shifting Supreme Court majority is the absolutely indispensable requirement that judicial opinions be grounded in consistently applied principle.

I cannot imagine any responsible citizen would have objected to giving the name,

Why in the world would you have it interpreted by nine lawyers?

It's unrealistic to say (that while) he knows of his right to appeal, if the judge told him what he already knew, there would be a different outcome,

A search is a search, even if it happens to disclose nothing but the bottom of a turntable.

A law can be both economic folly and constitutional.

impact my heart in a very big way.

Let the cancer patients suffer.