Supreme Court Justice – Antonin Scalia

Michael Griffin

09/08/15

Sociology of Law

Supreme Court Justice – Antonin Scalia

        Antonin Scalia is an associate United States Supreme Court Justice who was appointed to the country’s highest court in 1986 by President Ronald Reagan.  Scalia had an interesting rise to his appointment to the Supreme Court which should examined and understood to fully gain a grasp on the type of individual he was.  Antonin Scalia was a practicing lawyer in the early 1960’s, and this opened a door to become part of Nixon’s general counsel and also a role as the Assistant Attorney General.  If was after a successfully stint as Assistant AG, he was then appointed to Reagan’s Court of Appeals and then eventually to the U.S Supreme Court.

        Justice Scalia has played a very significant role during his term, and is very well known for many of his dissenting opinions when it has come to several controversial topics.  Scalia is viewed on one of the justices who looks at the constitution and views it in its “original form”, meaning that Scalia is not a fan on individual change and progressive law.  Scalia, a conservatist, and close friend with Justice Ginsberg would rather view the constitution in a form of judicial activism and as a way to impede on the progressive rights of citizens.  Strange to some who see Ginsberg as the direct opposite.  Scalia feels that any change that strays away from the author’s original intent of the constitution should be made strictly through legislature.  Scalia is known for his very direct dissenting opinion in King v. Burwell, in which he strongly voices his disdain for the Affordable Care Act, and more recently his falling dissent on the topic of same-sex marriage, where Scalia adamantly says that the idea is “at odds not only with the Constitution, but with the principles which our nation were built.”  These are just a few of the examples in which Scalia demonstrates his lack of willingness to move forward and progress as a nation.  He has his moments when it is clear he puts his personal feelings and political views aside such as the Texas flag burning case, which he sided with arguments that supported acts of free speech (Texas v. Johnson).  It is clear from the majority of his decisions, Scalia is anti-abortion, anti-equality, along with an overall anti-willingness to progress as individual citizens and as a nation.  And when you look at where we currently stand as a nation, these are some of the positions that are holding us back as a society in a world that is forever changing.