Scalia tops law prof's sarcasm index
Justice Antonin Scalia is the most sarcastic justice, according to a law professor who developed an index to measure sarcasm.
Scalia got a sarcasm rating of 2.78, compared to a .43 for Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., who had the second highest sarcasm rating, the New York Times reports in a Sidebar column by Adam Liptak.
The index was developed by University of California at Irvine law professor Richard Hasen, who searched law review articles from 1986 to 2013 for the number of times they described an opinion as caustic or sarcastic. The sarcasm rating was derived by dividing the total number of a justice’s sarcastic opinions, as described by law review articles, by his or her years on the court. How Appealing links to SSRN where Hasen’s analysis is posted.
Hasen and an assistant found 134 opinions described as sarcastic or caustic; 75 of them were by Scalia. Former Justice John Paul Stevens had nine, followed by former Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and former Justice Harry Blackmun at eight. Alito had three—he is tenth on the list in terms of raw numbers–but is second in terms of sarcasm rating.
“I opine that Justice Scalia’s sarcasm is a mixed blessing,” Hasen writes in his paper. “On the one hand sarcasm makes his opinions punchy and interesting, clarifying where he stands in a case and why and gaining attention for his ideas. On the other hand, such heavy use of sarcasm can demean the court, and it arguably demonstrates Justice Scalia’s lack of respect for the legal opinions of his colleagues. In the end, his sarcasm may be his most enduring legacy.”
Hasen used a broad definition of sarcasm, the Times points out. “We’re talking about a combination of harsh language and irony,” he told the newspaper.
Scalia himself would probably define sarcasm in more narrow terms, the Times says, noting four opinions in which he appeared to view sarcasm as saying one thing while meaning another. In a 2013 dissent, for example, Scalia wrote that those who opposed ratification of the Constitution “sarcastically predicted that the general, suspicionless warrant would be among the Constitution’s ‘blessings.’ ”
