Scalia Admits to ‘Down Times,’ But Says Situation Is Now ‘Less Dire’
Justice Antonin Scalia’s originalist views are well-known to many lawyers. But the combative justice’s sadness over disappointment with the U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings hasn’t gotten the same kind of press. Perhaps that’s why his discussion of “down times” on the bench during last night’s interview on 60 Minutes is getting the attention of bloggers.
A post on the Lawbeat blog of the Carnegie Legal Reporting program calls the admission the most dramatic moment of the interview.
Scalia commented after interviewer Lesley Stahl read from a 1996 letter that Scalia wrote to Justice Harry Blackmun before his death. In it, Scalia laments his lack of influence over the court’s majority. Scalia told Stahl he has down times, often at the end of the term when he is disappointed in the court’s decisions or when he is repeating often-made points, notes The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times.
“After a while, I’m saying the same things in today’s dissent that I said in the dissent 20 years ago,” Scalia said. ABAJournal.com listed that comment along with other interesting quotes from the interview in yesterday’s post immediately after the CBS program.
Scalia added that the situation is “less dire” now than in his early years on the court. He tells Stahl that at one time he thought about retiring at 65, but now that he is 72, those thoughts are gone. “I can’t think what I would do for an encore,” he says.
The 60 Minutes website has a lengthy story on the justice’s interview. The Associated Press story, on the other hand, is relatively brief.
In March, the ABA Journal’s Richard Brust sat down with Scalia in the Supreme Court’s Lawyers’ Lounge—joined by Garner in teleconference—to talk about writing and oral argument.
Follow the links to read highlights of that conversation or to hear the podcast.
