Interview withJustice Antonin Scalia

60 Minutes’ Lesley Stahl conducts an interesting and entertaining interview of originalist Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. I appreciate Scalia’s perspective on the differing roles of the judicial and legislative branches. Justices interpret the constitution and legislators create laws. In being an originalist, Scalia is pleading that we should seek to interpret the Constitution the way its authors originally intended, rather than as some sort of living (i.e., changing) document. This interaction seemed not unlike the discussion on many University campuses where postmodern professors seek to ascertain what a text means to them rather than what the author actually intended to convey.
I also appreciated Scalia’s ability to attack ideas without bitterness or rancor to those with whom he disagrees. Apparently, Scalia and Justice Ginsberg are good friends. Scalia quipped: “I attack ideas. I don’t attack people. And some very good people have some very bad ideas…And if you can’t separate the two, you gotta get another day job. You don’t want to be a judge. At least not a judge on a multi-member panel.”
Check it out.