SCOTUS, Supreme Court

My Favorite Scalia Memory Is When He Was Wrong. Historically Wrong.

This is the best Scalia moment since it combines his noted flair for language, his backwardness on social issues, and his "conservative or die" mentality.

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Antonin Scalia seatedJustice Antonin Scalia has been dead for under a week, and in that time a lot of digital ink has been spilt analyzing his life and legacy. And to be sure, he has a complicated legacy.

On the one hand, Scalia was clearly a brilliant mind, and while some of his barbs may have crossed the line of appropriateness, he was a true force on the High Court. Here is the Harvard Law Revue’s take on the guilty pleasures of reading a particularly witty Scalia opinion (though to be fair, this video got mixed reviews from ATL’s editorial staff):

On the other hand, to say Justice Scalia was “behind” on civil rights issues is an understatement, and has created quite the stir on one law school campus. His dissent in Lawrence v. Texas is horrifying, and in last Term’s Obergefell v. Hodges, which brought marriage equality to the nation, Scalia really sharpened his quill and came out swinging in his dissent. One of the most memorable lines was when he accused the majority of “interpretive jiggery-pokery” in order to find that getting married was a right.

The correct reaction is, of course, “jiggery whaaa”?

But once the shock wore off, the internet responded. Given Scalia’s penchant for colorful or even absurd turns of phrases, a hashtag war ensued, trying to imagine what would happen if Scalia penned a children’s book. This is the best Scalia moment since it combines his noted flair for language, his backwardness on social issues, and his “conservative or die” mentality.

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Okay, it started out slow, but before it was all said and done it was a trending hashtag and some really smart people participated. So without further delay, I present the best of #Scalia4Kids:

I may be glad Scalia won’t be voting on the Court anymore, but I doubt I’ll have this much fun over any other dissent.

Earlier: ‘Jiggery-Pokery’ Sparks #scalia4kids, Breaks The Internet
‘Scaliagate’ At Georgetown Law: The Conservatives Strike Back
Controversy Erupts At A T14 Law School Over How (Or Even Whether) To Mourn Justice Scalia

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