Antonin Scalia Quotes

A written constitution is needed to protect values AGAINST prevailing wisdom.

~ Antonin Scalia

You're looking at me as though I'm weird. My God! Are you so out of touch with most of America, most of which believes in the Devil? I mean, Jesus Christ believed in the Devil! It's in the Gospels! You travel in circles that are so, so removed from mainstream America that you are appalled that anybody would believe in the Devil! Most of mankind has believed in the Devil, for all of history. Many more intelligent people than you or me have believed in the Devil.

~ Antonin Scalia

It is myopic to base sweeping change on the narrow experience of a few years.

~ Antonin Scalia

This Court has never held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who has had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a habeas court that he is ‘actually’ innocent.

~ Antonin Scalia

The main business of a lawyer is to take the romance, the mystery, the irony, the ambiguity out of everything he touches.

~ Antonin Scalia

I do accept that, with - with respect to those vague terms in the Constitution such as equal protection of the laws, due process of law, cruel and unusual punishments. I fully accept that those things have to apply to new phenomena that didn't exist at the time.

~ Antonin Scalia

It's absolutely clear that whatever cruel and unusual punishments may - may mean with regard to future things, such as death by injection or the electric chair, it's clear that - that the death penalty, in and of itself, is not considered cruel and unusual punishment.

~ Antonin Scalia

Because values change, legislatures abolish the death penalty, permit same-sex marriage if they want, abolish laws against homosexual conduct. That's how the change in a society occurs. Society doesn't change through a Constitution.

~ Antonin Scalia

If you think aficionados of a living Constitution want to bring you flexibility, think again. You think the death penalty is a good idea? Persuade your fellow citizens to adopt it. You want a right to abortion? Persuade your fellow citizens and enact it. That's flexibility.

~ Antonin Scalia

There exists in some parts of the world sanctimonious criticism of America's death penalty, as somehow unworthy of a civilized society.

~ Antonin Scalia

In a big family the first child is kind of like the first pancake. If it's not perfect, that's okay, there are a lot more coming along.

~ Antonin Scalia

Being a good person begins with being a wise person. Then, when you follow your conscience, will you be headed in the right direction.

~ Antonin Scalia

The court makes an amazing amount of decisions that ought to be made by the people.

~ Antonin Scalia

I used to say that the Constitution is not a living document. It's dead, dead, dead. But I've gotten better. I no longer say that. The truth is that the Constitution is not one that morphs. It's an enduring Constitution, not a changing Constitution. That is what I've meant when I've said that the Constitution is dead.

~ Antonin Scalia

If I have brought any message today, it is this: Have the courage to have your wisdom regarded as stupidity. Be fools for Christ. And have the courage to suffer the contempt of the sophisticated world.

~ Antonin Scalia

It is not rational, never mind 'appropriate,' to impose billions of dollars in economic costs in return for a few dollars in health or environmental benefits.

~ Antonin Scalia

Burning the flag is a form of expression. Speech doesn't just mean written words or oral words. It could be semaphore. And burning a flag is a symbol that expresses an idea - I hate the government, the government is unjust, whatever.

~ Antonin Scalia

Words have meaning. And their meaning doesn't change.

~ Antonin Scalia

The Constitution that I interpret and apply is not living, but dead, or as I prefer to call it, enduring. It means, today, not what current society, much less the court, thinks it ought to mean, but what it meant when it was adopted.

~ Antonin Scalia