February 14, 2016, De mortuis nil nisi bonum?
The U.S. Supreme Court's senior Associate Justice, Antonin Scalia, was found dead in a Texas resort, apparently of natural causes; he was 79. He was a mixed bag, of course, even if the ultimate conservative darling in the judiciary... in my view, he is (or was) the (until recently) living embodiment of why life tenure for federal judges (Supreme Court especially) is infinitely more trouble than it's worth, and should be eliminated forthwith, by Constitutional convention if necessary, seeing as for every one John Paul Stevens we get, we end up with lots and lots of Scalias and Rehnquists... just how it is.
That said, I turn it over to Professor Lemieux:
…had Scalia’s dissents ultimately shaped America, women would not have reproductive rights, the federal government could not effectively regulate health care, LGBT people would not have the right engage in sexual intercourse without fear of arrest – let alone alone the right to marry – and states could single them out for legal disabilities. Women could be excluded from state educational institutions, public schools could teach creationism in science classes and prisoners could be assaulted by prison guards. And, in large part because of Scalia, in America today, the Voting Rights Act has been gutted, the rights of employees and consumers have been curtailed, Brown v Board is more likely to be used to stop integration than to promote it and moneyed interests increasingly dominate elections.
What he said...