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<\/a>Supreme Court Jus\u00adtice Antonin Scalia, who died on Sat\u00adur\u00adday, prac\u00adticed a con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion\u00adal con\u00adser\u00advatism that is out-of-step with today\u2019s Right. [Cred\u00adit: lifenews.com]<\/p><\/div>The arc of con\u00adser\u00advatism\u2019s decline was traced in the course of a few hours last Sat\u00adur\u00adday. That after\u00adnoon we learned of the pass\u00ading of a gen\u00aduine con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion\u00adal con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive, Antonin Scalia. Hours lat\u00ader, we endured anoth\u00ader GOP<\/span> debate<\/a> dur\u00ading which pro\u00adfessed con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtives trad\u00aded barbs and insults, now con\u00adsid\u00adered a suit\u00adable sub\u00adsti\u00adtute for char\u00adac\u00adter and sub\u00adstance by a large swath of Repub\u00adli\u00adcan voters.\n Scalia had all of Don\u00adald Trump\u2019s bite and pith, but his cut\u00adting remarks car\u00adried intel\u00adlec\u00adtu\u00adal force. Scali\u00ada\u2019s wit was the mark of an acute intel\u00adli\u00adgence; Trump\u2019s is a nox\u00adious vapor.<\/p>\n Scalia was acer\u00adbic in pur\u00adsuit of a high-mind\u00aded pur\u00adpose: to restrain the pow\u00ader of the Court on which he sat. Judges, he argued, should inter\u00adpret laws, not make or rewrite them, even \u2013 per\u00adhaps espe\u00adcial\u00adly \u2013 to advance their own pol\u00adi\u00adcy aims.<\/p>\n His insis\u00adtence that judges are not law\u00admak\u00aders placed him at odds with the pre\u00advail\u00ading cul\u00adture on the bench and in acad\u00ade\u00admia. He called out his col\u00adleagues when they slipped their con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion\u00adal leash. When the Supreme Court last year decid\u00aded<\/a> to make Oba\u00admacare sub\u00adsi\u00addies avail\u00adable in states that had not estab\u00adlished exchanges, Scalia accused the major\u00adi\u00adty of rewrit\u00ading the law. In a rebuke almost cer\u00adtain\u00adly aimed at Chief Jus\u00adtice Roberts, who wrote the opin\u00adion, Scalia said, \u201cWe should start call\u00ading this SCOTUScare.\u201d<\/p>\n He was relent\u00adless\u00adly con\u00adsis\u00adtent in demand\u00ading that pol\u00adi\u00adcy on a broad range of hot-but\u00adton issues be made by leg\u00adis\u00adla\u00adtures elect\u00aded by the peo\u00adple, not by a clois\u00adtered judi\u00adcial elite. \u201cThere is some\u00adthing to be said for pop\u00adu\u00adlar abo\u00adli\u00adtion of the death penal\u00adty,\u201d he wrote<\/a>. \u201cThere is noth\u00ading to be said for its incre\u00admen\u00adtal abo\u00adli\u00adtion by this Court.\u201d<\/p>\n For Scalia, it was essen\u00adtial that issues be decid\u00aded in the con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion\u00adal\u00adly appro\u00adpri\u00adate venue. His dis\u00adsent to last year\u2019s Oberge\u00adfell<\/a><\/em> deci\u00adsion requir\u00ading all states to license same-sex mar\u00adriages did\u00adn\u2019t lec\u00adture us on the pro\u00adpri\u00adety of such unions. \u201cIt is not of spe\u00adcial impor\u00adtance to me what the law says about mar\u00adriage,\u201d he wrote. \u201cIt is of over\u00adwhelm\u00ading impor\u00adtance, how\u00adev\u00ader, who it is that rules me\u2026Today\u2019s decree says that my Ruler, and the Ruler of 320 mil\u00adlion Amer\u00adi\u00adcans coast-to-coast, is a major\u00adi\u00adty of the nine lawyers on the Supreme Court.\u201d<\/p>\n His dis\u00adsent was with\u00ader\u00ading and per\u00adson\u00adal. The rul\u00ading, he wrote, was a \u201cjudi\u00adcial Putsch,\u201d a sub\u00adver\u00adsion of con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion\u00adal democ\u00adra\u00adcy. \u201cTo allow the pol\u00adi\u00adcy ques\u00adtion of same-sex mar\u00adriage to be con\u00adsid\u00adered and resolved by a select, patri\u00adcian, high\u00adly unrep\u00adre\u00adsen\u00adta\u00adtive pan\u00adel of nine is to vio\u00adlate a prin\u00adci\u00adple even more fun\u00adda\u00admen\u00adtal than no tax\u00ada\u00adtion with\u00adout rep\u00adre\u00adsen\u00adta\u00adtion: no social trans\u00adfor\u00adma\u00adtion with\u00adout representation.\u201d<\/p>\n His words no doubt offend\u00aded not only his col\u00adleagues, but those who cel\u00ade\u00adbrat\u00aded Obergefell\u2019s<\/em> result. That offense was entire\u00adly inten\u00adtion\u00adal. For Scalia, Oberge\u00adfell<\/em> was a judi\u00adcial mon\u00adstros\u00adi\u00adty because it imposed the desired pol\u00adi\u00adcy of five judges on the coun\u00adtry at the expense of the con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion\u00adal order. That, for Scalia, is the worst offense a jurist could commit.<\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>Very often,\u201d he said<\/a>,<\/span> \u201cif you\u2019re a good judge, you don\u2019t real\u00adly like the result you\u2019re reaching.\u201d<\/p>\n Scalia prac\u00adticed what he preached, rul\u00ading against his own pref\u00ader\u00adences on mat\u00adters as diverse as flag-burn\u00ading, parental pre\u00adrog\u00ada\u00adtives, the rights of defen\u00addants, reli\u00adgious free\u00addom, and tort reform. For Scalia, the end nev\u00ader jus\u00adti\u00adfied the means. Self-restraint \u2014 fideli\u00adty to con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion\u00adal jurispru\u00addence even if it pro\u00adduced some\u00adthing oth\u00ader than the desired result \u2014 was a judge\u2019s fore\u00admost duty.<\/p>\n Self-restraint was lit\u00adtle in evi\u00addence dur\u00ading Sat\u00adur\u00adday night\u2019s debate. Sen\u00ada\u00adtor Mar\u00adco Rubio (R\u2011FL<\/span>) charged that his col\u00adleague Ted Cruz (R\u2011TX<\/span>) \u201chas been telling lies.\u201d Don\u00adald Trump called Jeb Bush \u201cweak\u201d and \u201claugh\u00adable,\u201d alleg\u00ading that the for\u00admer Flori\u00adda Gov\u00ader\u00adnor had threat\u00adened \u201cto take his pants off and moon everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n On the crit\u00adi\u00adcal issue of Supreme Court appoint\u00adments, Trump and Cruz offered view\u00aders this school\u00adyard exchange:<\/p>\n TRUMP<\/span>: Why do you lie?<\/p>\n CRUZ<\/span>: You need to learn to not inter\u00adrupt people.<\/p>\n TRUMP<\/span>: Why do you lie?<\/p>\n CRUZ<\/span>: Don\u00adald, adults learn\u2026<\/p>\n TRUMP<\/span>: You pushed him.<\/p>\n CRUZ<\/span>: Adults learn not to inter\u00adrupt people.<\/p>\n TRUMP<\/span>: Yeah, yeah, I know, you\u2019re an adult.<\/p>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n Such infan\u00adtil\u00adism, with its dis\u00addain for social con\u00adven\u00adtion and pro\u00adpri\u00adety, is now con\u00adsid\u00adered the mark of an authen\u00adtic con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive leader. Its apol\u00ado\u00adgists argue that the Repub\u00adli\u00adcan estab\u00adlish\u00adment invit\u00aded this bad behav\u00adior by fail\u00ading to \u201cstop Oba\u00adma\u201d after gain\u00ading House and Sen\u00adate seats in the 2010 and 2014 elections.<\/p>\n But as Jus\u00adtice Scalia might have explained, the Con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion does not give Con\u00adgress author\u00adi\u00adty to uni\u00adlat\u00ader\u00adal\u00adly \u201cstop Oba\u00adma.\u201d Laws require either the President\u2019s sig\u00adna\u00adture or the votes of 2\/3 of Rep\u00adre\u00adsen\u00adta\u00adtives and Sen\u00ada\u00adtors to over\u00adride his objec\u00adtions. Con\u00adgress can block a President\u2019s leg\u00adisla\u00adtive ini\u00adtia\u00adtives, and the Repub\u00adli\u00adcan Con\u00adgress has repeat\u00aded\u00adly done so. It can\u00adnot, how\u00adev\u00ader, pre\u00advent exec\u00adu\u00adtive overreach.<\/p>\n Just as there is no cure (short of con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion\u00adal amend\u00adment) for a judi\u00adcia\u00adry run amok, Con\u00adgress has no rem\u00ade\u00addy for uncon\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion\u00adal exec\u00adu\u00adtive actions. Only the courts have such pow\u00ader. Judges who are con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion\u00adal con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtives \u2013 or who, at least, have some respect for the lim\u00adits the Con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion places on the exec\u00adu\u00adtive branch \u2013 can police such lim\u00adits. And to some extent they have, so far block\u00ading Pres\u00adi\u00addent Obama\u2019s law\u00adless orders on immi\u00adgra\u00adtion<\/a> and the envi\u00adron\u00adment<\/a>,<\/span> while refus\u00ading the Admin\u00adis\u00adtra\u00adtion\u2019s request to quash a law\u00adsuit<\/a> brought by the House of Rep\u00adre\u00adsen\u00adta\u00adtives against Obamacare.<\/p>\n Like Scali\u00ada\u2019s judi\u00adcial col\u00adleagues, many Repub\u00adli\u00adcan \u2013 and Demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic \u2013 vot\u00aders have lit\u00adtle patience for the con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion\u00adal order that he spent a life\u00adtime defend\u00ading. It moves too slow\u00adly, it is too con\u00adstrain\u00ading, it too often requires con\u00adsen\u00adsus and com\u00adpro\u00admise. We want what we want and we want it now, whether it is con\u00adfis\u00adcat\u00ading the wealth of suc\u00adcess\u00adful indi\u00advid\u00adu\u00adals in pur\u00adsuit of some imag\u00adined utopia or foist\u00ading unpop\u00adu\u00adlar poli\u00adcies on an unwill\u00ading electorate.<\/p>\n Jus\u00adtice Scalia devot\u00aded his career to com\u00adbat\u00ading such impa\u00adtience. His con\u00adser\u00advatism, so reviled by his lib\u00ader\u00adal crit\u00adics, is today out of step with many on the Right.<\/p>\n His loss is great\u00adly to be mourned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The arc of con\u00adser\u00advatism\u2019s decline was traced in the course of a few hours last Sat\u00adur\u00adday. That after\u00adnoon we learned of the pass\u00ading of a gen\u00aduine con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion\u00adal con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive, Antonin Scalia. Hours lat\u00ader, we endured anoth\u00ader GOP<\/span> debate dur\u00ading which pro\u00adfessed con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtives trad\u00aded \u2026 Con\u00adtin\u00adue read\u00ading