Scalia Returns to Originalist Themes and the Topic of Torture

Justice Antonin Scalia revisited the subject of torture Tuesday evening in a speech to Missouri college students, after his previous comments on the subject provoked a liberal outcry.

Scalia said the use of aggressive interrogation techniques and domestic wiretapping are not expressly banned by the Constitution, the Columbia Tribune reports. Torture is “a bad thing to do. But not everything that is bad is unconstitutional," he said in the speech at the University of Central Missouri.

He suggested that every federal judge "be issued a stamp pad … and a stamp, and you would whack it on the pad and stomp it on the paper, and it says, ‘Stupid but constitutional.’ "

In February, Scalia told an interviewer that physical violence may be allowed to extract information to prevent an imminent terrorist threat. Asked about a hypothetical in which one person has the information needed to stop an attack, Scalia responded, “Seems to me you have to say, as unlikely as that is, it would be absurd to say that you can’t stick something under the fingernails, smack them in the face.”

In Tuesday's speech, Scalia emphasized his-oft repeated theme that the Constitution is not a living document, the Kansas City Star reports. “The Constitution does not change,” Scalia said. “It means today what it meant when it first was written. … It does not morph.”

Judges who believe in a morphing Constitution thwart the popular will, he said. "If you want the right to an abortion, persuade your fellow citizens it’s a good idea and pass a law,” he said. “If you feel the other way, repeal the law."

While Scalia doesn’t believe in a living Constitution, he does prefer that his dinner guests be that way. That revelation came in response to a question from an audience member, who asked Scalia to name a justice, living or dead, with whom he would like to have dinner.

“I have dinner with Ruth [Bader Ginsburg] once a year, and I certainly wouldn’t want to have dinner with a dead man,” he said.

A hat tip to How Appealing, which posted the stories.