Constitutional Role of Judges (Justices Breyer & Scalia before Senate Judiciary Committee)

C-Span Video ^ | 10/5/11 | Senate Committee Judiciary

[BCrago66]

Justices Breyer and Scalia testified on the role of judges in the American republic and democratic systems within the U.S. Question topics included the politicization of the judicial confirmation process, cameras in the courtroom, the role of juries, and the 14th Amendment.

[BCrago66]

Breyer seems like a nice enough guy, but his opening statement is bland blather. Skip Senator Leahy's opening statement, and skip Breyer, and go to Justice Scalia's opening statement, starting at 17:30. Scalia's remarks on the Constitution are really interesting.

I have not listened to the whole hearing yet, but I've read that later on Scalia talks about the deleterious effect of the War of Drugs on the judiciary. Scalia's one of the few people in that room intellectually alive, among a sea of zombies.

[Goreknowshowtocheat]

Gee, I thought their job was to rule on everything based on their expansion of the commerce clause. The rest of the document is pretty much dead to the courts.

[cashless]

Scalia is the unhearled genius on the court. He is a classic.

My biggest fear is that one of the conservatives or Kennedy, a.k.a. Judge Swing, dies and the Constitution hater in chief get another liberal on the court.

I have entertained the thought of becoming a mortician and volunteering my services to the future ex POTUS. I would shove a copy of the Constitution down his throat and another up his ass, just so the future torment he endures would be more unbearable.

[lmsii]

You make the mistake of believing that the POTUS has a soul and that shoving the Constitution in his orifices would some good.

[Recovering_Democrat]

bttt

[lmsii]

You make the mistake of believing that the POTUS has a soul and that shoving the Constitution in his orifices would do some good. Well let me tell you the Communist in Chief does not have a soul.

[patlin]

Scalia is the unhearled genius on the court. He is a classic.

Were you referring to Scalia saying that the Congressional archived words of the men & women who draft the laws mean nothing? That they are inadmissable in his court in his opinion & in fact he gives no weight to them?

This is the kind of genius that got us into this mess. It's classic alright, classic liberalism. While Scalia is mostly conservative, he does have a dark side.

Justice Joseph Story on Rules of Constitutional Interpretation (1833)

§ 181. I. The first and fundamental rule in the interpretation of all instruments is, to construe them according to the sense of the terms, and the intention of the parties.