Justice Antonin Scalia
This Saturday, the owners and staff of Cockle Legal Briefs heard the news that Justice Antonin Scalia had passed away in the night. Our thoughts and prayers turn to his family, friends, and colleagues, and we join the rest of the nation in solemn remembrance of this iconic Supreme Court justice.
Appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan in 1986, Justice Scalia was the first Italian-American to take a seat on the bench. And for nearly thirty nears, he served our nation with tireless effort–authoring over 1,000 opinions–and unwavering dedication to the constitutional ideals that he so forcefully championed.
Many will remember Justice Scalia for his steadfast adherence to the principles of originalism and textualism. And certainly others will long recount the rhetorical sting felt from his pointed critiques of contrary points of view.
For many I have spoken with, we will miss his wit. Often edgy, or even acerbic and tart, he could draft a dissent–or sometimes, even a concurrence–that would skewer many of the majority’s core intellectual pillars. And as a man with both abounding intellect and innate charm, he occasionally revealed an appreciation of silliness. A favorite can be found in his dissent from the eight-justice majority in Montana v. Wyoming, a 2011 water rights case. His opinion dropped a footnote to consider the appropriate term to identify people from Wyoming:
The dictionary-approved term is “Wyomingite,” which is also the name of a type of lava, see Webster’s New International Dictionary 2961 (2d ed. 1957). I believe the people of Wyoming deserve better.
Finally, those of us at Cockle Legal Briefs are mindful that our colleagues at the Court have lost a co-worker. While much of the rest of the world comments on the passing of an intellectual hero or an ideological opponent, we know people who may be coming to terms with the unexpected loss of a friend. To those friends of ours, we offer our deepest condolences.