Scalia Dissents [antikvár]

INTRODUCTION Call it a "Scalia moment." You are reading the latest opinion of Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin ScaUa and come across a witty line or turn of phrase that makes you laugh aloud, an insight or observation that makes you nod your head in agreement, or a caustic barb that makes you wince for the target. Since his appointment in 1986, Scalia has been the Court's premier conservative, intellectual gladiator, and chief wordsmith. More than anyone who has served on the High Court in recent history, ScaUa has given life to Aristotle's injunction that "it is not enough to know what to say—one must know how to say it."' His words can be pointed. "Today's opinion has no foundation in American constitutional law, and barely pretends to," he charged in one case.^ Scalia's opinions can also be witty and humorous. Explaining why he did not think the Court should try to create a standard for defining "literary or artistic value" in an obscenity case, Scalia said " in my view it is quite impossible to come to an objective assessment of (at least) literary or artistic value, there being many accomplished people who