Antonin Scalia

"Of Course I Believe in Heaven and Hell"

Antonin Scalia, by our lights, is one of the greater justices in US Supreme Court history.  He has been a resolute opponent of judicial activism which sees the role of a justice and the courts to make law, not test whether human actions and arrangements are lawful or not. 

He has been a champion of  "originalism" and "textualism".  The latter insists on paying attention to the actual text of the law (not the more subjective focus upon intent, or motive, or goals of legislation).  The former insists on basing opinions upon the actual text of the constitution itself.  He is not interested in a constantly evolving constitution, where the latter becomes a wax nose to be twisted and reshaped according to the passing fancies of a generation. 

Scalia was interviewed recently by Jennifer Senior.  The whole text was published in the New York Magazine.

Here are some excerpts: