NEWS AND NOTES
UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT JUSTICE
ANTONIN SCALIA PASSES AT AGE 79
By Abbey Morrow
Counsel On Call
[email protected]
A
ntonin Gregory Scalia. His very name conjures an image of the quintessential Conservative jurist and Constitutional originalist.
Best remembered for his staunch textualism in statutory
interpretation and acerbic dissents, Scalia, the longestserving Justice on the United States Supreme Court, passed
away of natural causes in his sleep on Feb. 13, 2016, while
on a hunting trip at the Cibolo Creek Ranch in Shafter,
Texas1. He was 79 years old2. His death marks the second time in 60 years a sitting Justice has died in office3.
Scalia’s influence may be most deeply renowned for his dissents
and concurrences, but he will also be remembered for his 2008
majority opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570
(2008), which struck down the District of Columbia’s ban on
handguns and held that the Second Amendment granted private
citizens the right to bear arms for self-defense in the home4. He
will no doubt be equally remembered for his scathing dissents
in Lawrence v. Texas and Obergefell v. Hodges, among others5.
Meanwhile, in the absence of a ninth member of the Court,
Constitutional scholars believe that tie votes among cases before
1 Jamie Gangel et al., Antonin Scalia, Supreme Court Justice, Dies at
79, CNN.COM, Feb. 16, 2016, http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/13/politics/
supreme-court-justice-antonin-scalia-dies-at-79/index.html; see also Brian
Dalton, Top 10 Scalia Zingers, ABOVETHELAW.COM, Feb. 16, 2016,
http://abovethelaw.com/2016/02/top-10-scalia-zingers/.
2 Gangel et al., supra note 1.
3 Jessica Gresko, Scalia’s Death in Office a Rarity for Modern Supreme
Court, ASSOCIATED PRESS, Feb. 14, 2016, available at http://bigstory.
ap.org/article/09e55c6fbd6d41a28a03564f3202ef6b/scalias-death-officerarity-modern-supreme-court; see generally Mark Walsh, Courtroom
Draping for Justice Scalia, SCOTUSBLOG, Feb. 17, 2016, http://www.
scotusblog.com/2016/02/courtroom-draping-for-justice-scalia/ (describing
mourning customs at the Court).
4 Nina Totenberg, Justice Antonin Scalia, Known For Biting Dissents, Dies At 79, NPR.ORG, Feb. 16, 2016, http://www.npr.
org/2016/02/13/140647230/justice-antonin-scalia-known-for-biting-dissents-dies-at-79.
5 See Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. ___ (2015); Lawrence v. Texas,
539 U.S. 558 (2003); Eyder Peralta, 5 Opinions From Justice Antonin
Scalia That Are Worth A Read, NPR.ORG, Feb. 14, 2016, http://www.npr.
org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/02/13/466696382/5-opinions-from-justiceantonin-scalia-that-are-worth-a-read.
18
February 2016
the Court this term will lead to reargument, not affirmance6.
Georgia Supreme Court Justice David Nahmias served as a
clerk for Justice Scalia in the 1990s. “Justice Scalia was one
of the true giants of American law,” he said. “No one who has
served on the Supreme Court was more dedicated to the Constitution and the rule of law. Beyond that, he was a wonderful
man, devoted to his family and his faith and a loyal friend and
mentor to so many people, including me. I will miss him greatly.”7
Born on March 11, 1936, in Trenton, NJ, Scalia was valedictorian
of his class at Georgetown University in 1957, and earned his
LL.B. with honors from Harvard Law School in 1960. He began
his legal career as an associate at Jones Day in Cleveland, and
then embarked upon a career in public service. He went on to
teach law at the University of Virginia, Georgetown University,
University of Chicago, and Stanford University. He served as
General Counsel to the Office of Telecommunications Policy,
Executive Office of the President; was Chairman of the U.S.
Administrative Conference; an Assistant Attorney General with
the U.S. Department of Justice; and an editor to the American
Enterprise Institute. In 1982, Scalia was nominated to the
federal bench by Ronald Regan and received his commission as Judge to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of
Columbia Circuit; and in 1986 he received his commission
as Associate Justice to the United States Supreme Court,
6 See, e.g., Tom Goldstein, Tie Votes Will Lead to Reargument, Not
Affirmance, SCOTUSBLOG, Feb. 14, 2016, http://www.scotusblog.
com/2016/02/tie-votes-will-lead-to-reargument-not-affirmance/; see
generally Robert Barnes, Scalia’s Death Flips Supreme Court Dynamics,
Hurts Conservative Hopes, WASHINGTONPOST.COM, Feb. 14, 2016,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/scalias-death-flipssupreme-court-dynamics-hurts-conservative-hopes/2016/02/14/b8f1f8acd322-11e5-9823-02b905009f99_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-banner-main_
banner-head%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&tid=a_inl; see also Adam Kiptak,
Key Questions And Answers About Antonin Scalia and His Legacy, N.Y.
TIMES, Feb. 14, 2016, available at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/15/
us/key-questions-and-answers-about-antonin-scalia-and-his-legacy.html?_
r=0.
7 Jonathan Ringel, Comments From Georgians Who Knew Justice
Scalia, DAILY REPORT, Feb. 13, 2016, available at http://www.dailyreportonline.com/id=1202749705286/Comments-from-Georgians-Who-KnewJustice-Scalia#ixzz40McFITab.
where he remained for nearly thirty years until his death.8
Outside the courtroom, Scalia enjoyed travel, opera,
hunting, and poker.9 He advised law students to skip the
“frill courses” and take the “bread and butter courses”
instead, and urged young lawyers to seek work-life balance that “enables you to maintain a human existence.”10
Bradford Marsh, a partner at Swift Curie in Atlanta, accompanied Justice Scalia on a few hunting trips and recalls him as
a “delightful man to be around. He was very down to earth. I
was struck by how devoted he was to his family. He was also a
good conversationalist who was willing to entertain questions
about different views. He was cordial to everyone,” Marsh
said. When asked about his legacy, Marsh said of Scalia,
“Clearly, he was a great writer. Most people will remember him
as having stood his ground and not wavering from it. Whatever you think of his positions, he was certainly consistent.”
Following his death, Scalia’s body was returned to Washington, where it lay in repose in the Supreme Court’s Great
Hall and the bench where he sat and his chair were draped
in black. 11 His funeral was held at the National Shrine
of the Immaculate Conception on Feb. 20. Scalia is survived by his wife of 48 years, Maureen McCarthy. Togeth8 See Supreme Court History, The Future of The Court, Biographies
of the Robes, Antonin Gregory Scalia, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/future/robes_scalia.html (last visited Feb. 17, 2016); Federal
Judicial Center, Biographical Director of Federal Judges, http://www.fjc.
gov/servlet/nGetInfo?jid=2108&cid=999&ctype=na&instate=na (last visited
Feb. 17, 2016); Antonin Scalia Biography, Biography.com, http://www.
biography.com/people/antonin-scalia-9473091#synopsis (last visited Feb.
17, 2016).
9 Kiptak, supra note 6.
10 See Erin Fuchs, Scalia Gave Wyoming Law Students His ‘Single
Best Piece of Advice,’ BUSINESSINSIDER.COM, Oct. 30, 2012, http://
www.businessinsider.com/scalias-advice-for-law-students-2012-10;
see also Christopher Danzig, Justice Scalia’s Advice: Don’t Work Too
Hard, Move to Cleveland, ABOVETHELAW.COM, Feb. 15, 2012, http://
abovethelaw.com/2012/02/justice-scalias-advice-to-young-lawyers-dontwork-too-hard-move-to-cleveland/.
11 Lyle Denniston, Ceremonies for Justice Scalia, SCOTUSBLOG, Feb.
16, 2016, http://www.scotusblog.com/2016/02/ceremonies-for-justicescalia/.
er they had nine children and nearly 30 grandchildren.12
The death of a sitting Justice in the midst of a presidential election
year has already set the stage for a polarizing political tug-of-war
over the confirmation of a successor nominated by a Democratic
president through a Republican-controlled Senate.13 A potential
slate of nominees is rumored to include D.C. Circuit Judge Sri
Srinivasan, Ninth Circuits Judges Jacqueline Nguyen and Paul
Watford, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, U.S. District Judge
Ketanji Brown Jackson, California state supreme court justices,
and California state attorney general and Senate candidate
Kamala Harris.14
Senator David Perdue (R-Georgia), member of the Judiciary
Committee, will play a role in the selection of the next Justice.
He issued a brief statement following the pronouncement of
Scalia’s death, and noted that Scalia “will be remembered as
one of the most consequential justices in American history and
his legacy will animate our understanding of the Constitution for
generations to come.”15 Senator Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia)
said, “Justice Scalia’s jurisprudence is a model for all judges,
and he and his writings from the Court will be sorely missed.”16■
12 See Antonin Scalia Biography, Biography.com, http://www.biography.com/people/antonin-scalia-9473091#synopsis (last visited Feb. 17,
2016).
13 See Gangel et al., supra note 1.
14 See Casey Tolan, Meet Potential Obama Nominee Sri Srinivasan,
Who Could Be the First Asian-American on the Supreme Court, FUSION.
COM, Feb. 16, 2016, http://fusion.net/story/269055/sri-srinivasan-scaliasupreme-court/; Tom Goldstein, Continued Thoughts on the Next Nominee
(and Impressions of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson), SCOTUSBLOG, Feb.
16, 2016, http://www.scotusblog.com/2016/02/continued-thoughts-on-thenext-nominee-and-impressions-of-judge-ketanji-brown-jackson/; Irin Carmon, Will Obama Look West to California for Supreme Court Nominee?,
NBCNEWS.COM, Feb. 16, 2016, http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/
will-obama-look-west-california-supreme-court-nominee-n519776.
15 Dennis O’Hayer, Ga. Senators Reflect On Justice Scalia’s Influence,
Legacy, 90.1 FM WABE ATLANTA’S NPR STATION, Feb. 15, 2016, http://
news.wabe.org/post/ga-senators-reflect-justice-scalia-s-influence-legacy.
16 Katheryn Hayes Tucker, Georgia’s Senior US Senator: Save
Scalia’s Vacancy for Next President to Fill, DAILY REPORT, Feb. 17,
2016, available at http://www.dailyreportonline.com/id=1202749787049/
Georgias-Senior-US-Senator-Save-Scalias-Vacancy-for-Next-Presidentto-Fill#ixzz40SgQyQBu.
The Official News Publication of the Atlanta Bar Association THE ATLANTA LAWYER
19