“Have the courage to have your wisdom regarded as stupidity.” -Antonin Scalia
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, 79, was found dead on Feb. 13, 2016, at a ranch in West Texas. Officials confirmed that he had died of natural causes.
Scalia was appointed in 1986 by former President Ronald Reagan and served as an associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court for three decades. Those who supported Scalia viewed him as one of the most outstanding legal thinkers of his time. Scalia’s critics on the other hand believed him to be a harsh conservative and deemed him to be racist, fascist, and even evil. Scalia believed that the Constitution should not be up for interpretation and that it should be viewed the same way as those who established it did. I personally believe that Scalia stopped many efforts of people to depart from and misinterpret the Constitution. Even though he was often criticized because some thought his views were a setback to social progress, in my opinion he will be known as one of the finest legal minds in American history. He was famous for his dissents, written in a much plainer speech than was accustomed to come from the court.
Scalia’s unexpected death has left a void on the Supreme Court that will be the cause of numerous split decisions that will either be referred back to the lower courts or delayed until a new justice is chosen. Scalia’s death caused immediate partisan debate on who should chose the next justice. The president has the responsibility to nominate and not to choose, and the Senate has the responsibility to confirm or refuse to confirm. Because Americans are so sharply divided between liberals and conservatives, some on the Left have demanded immediate action on the appointment of Scalia’s successor whereas the Right wants to delay in case a Republican president will be elected. The importance of the next Supreme Court justice is coming at a time of incredibly divisive cases before the court. Abortion rights, Obamacare, gun control and immigration policies are just a few of the contentious cases before the court. Who prevails in the upcoming fight and who nominates the next justice will affect the United States for decades to come, as an appointment to the court is for life. The next justice could, depending on his/her age, sit on the Court for four decades – an interesting time indeed.
By Dasa Rosca
Photo courtesy of Pablo Martinez