![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Good Riddance.
Feb. 13th, 2016 04:54 pmAssociate Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has died at 79. Normally, when someone of note or importance dies, I'm able to muster a few kind words. It rarely does good to speak ill of the dead. If nothing else, I can express my sympathy for the friends and family.
Not so in this case. When it comes to Mr. Scalia, the Grateful Dead best expressed my opinion: "There may come a day I will dance on your grave/If unable to dance I'll crawl 'cross it." I loathed this man. His questionable ethics, his crudeness, and his unending desire to roll back a half century of social progress because he was afraid of change.
Have no doubt, Justice Scalia was the enemy of all but the financial elite and the far-right conservative religious in this nation. Read his opinions. He was an Originalist when it suited him, and staunchly opposed to extending Constitutional rights to any segment of the public he found suspect. His dissent in Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003) is a masterpiece of his paleoconservative disconnect. He freely admits that laws restricting personal rights can't pass constitutional muster, but argues that they should be left in place anyway. His dissent in Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. ___ (2015) shows his unethical and frankly, bullying nature.
A horrible justice gone from the bench, and an unethical man gone from our planet. I shall not shed a tear for him.
Not so in this case. When it comes to Mr. Scalia, the Grateful Dead best expressed my opinion: "There may come a day I will dance on your grave/If unable to dance I'll crawl 'cross it." I loathed this man. His questionable ethics, his crudeness, and his unending desire to roll back a half century of social progress because he was afraid of change.
Have no doubt, Justice Scalia was the enemy of all but the financial elite and the far-right conservative religious in this nation. Read his opinions. He was an Originalist when it suited him, and staunchly opposed to extending Constitutional rights to any segment of the public he found suspect. His dissent in Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003) is a masterpiece of his paleoconservative disconnect. He freely admits that laws restricting personal rights can't pass constitutional muster, but argues that they should be left in place anyway. His dissent in Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. ___ (2015) shows his unethical and frankly, bullying nature.
A horrible justice gone from the bench, and an unethical man gone from our planet. I shall not shed a tear for him.
