Say what you will about affirmative action, voting rights, same-sex marriage, the Supreme Court as an institution … but as the court wraps up its term with today's final
decisions, we pose the question on many people's minds: Is there a bigger hypocrite in all of American jurisprudence than Justice Antonin Scalia?
Scalia's ability to twist his reasoning and his opinions to suit the outcomes he apparently prefers is legend. Not sure where he stands on waterboarding, but his inclination to torture a legal argument until it confesses his desired conclusion has been in full bloom these last two days, with the court's rulings on the Voting Rights Act and the Defense of Marriage Act.
Today, writing in dissent (pdf), Scalia excoriated the majority that ruled DOMA unconstitutional for elevating the court's judgment over the prerogative of the legislative branch. Bloviate away, Nino:
That is jaw-dropping. It is an assertion of judicial supremacy over the people’s Representatives in Congress and the Executive. It envisions a Supreme Court standing (or rather enthroned) at the apex of government, empowered to decide all constitutional questions, always and everywhere "primary" in its role.
