Chairman Goodlatte Delivers Special Order Speech Honoring Justice Antonin Scalia

Chairman Goodlatte: The Nation’s legal lights faded recently, with the loss of the great Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. But they will not be dimmed for long.  For Justice Scalia left a legacy of illumination that will continue far beyond his mortal years. Although Justice Scalia is no longer with us on Earth, his cogent, witty, and plain-spoken writings will continue to educate law students and good citizens everywhere for centuries to come. Justice Scalia was no mere legal technician. He was a deep thinker who had an uncommon knack for crystallizing powerful ideas into trenchant, lasting prose. The journey on which he led his readers was always a joy, always compelling, because Justice Scalia always made clear where the path started. He once said “More important than your obligation to follow your conscience, or at least prior to it, is your obligation to form your conscience correctly.” And for Justice Scalia, as with morality, so it was with the law.  Justice Scalia always made sure he built his argument on a solid foundation -- the Constitution, the Supreme Law of the Land. As strong a defender of the rule of law that he was, he was a gentle legal giant.  Like all great educators, Justice Scalia was respectful of others, regardless of their differing views. “I attack ideas,” he once said.  “I don’t attack people.  Some very good people have some very bad ideas and if you can’t separate the two, you gotta get another day job.” That’s a life lesson for all of us who engage in any debates, and the ideas that undergird them. In that spirit Justice Scalia often said “My best buddy on the court is Ruth Bader Ginsburg, has always been.”  And Justice Ginsburg’s moving tribute to her own best buddy should reduce every bitter partisan to tears. Throughout his life, Justice Scalia correctly inveighed against the notion of a “living Constitution,” the misguided idea that the Constitution’s text and original meaning somehow shifted this way and that with changes in popular attitudes.  Justice Scalia said “[there's] the argument of [constitutional] flexibility and it goes something like this: The Constitution is over 200 years old and societies change.  It has to change with society, like a living organism, or it will become brittle and break.  But … the Constitution is not a living organism; it is a legal document. It says some things and doesn’t say other things.” As a lifetime-appointed Supreme Court Justice, Justice Scalia, like all other lifetime-appointed judges, had the opportunity to effectively alter the meaning of the Constitution if he wanted and could garner the support of four of his colleagues.  But like George Washington refusing the crown offered him, Justice Scalia rejected the notion the Supreme Court should impose its own preferred policies on the country through strained constitutional interpretations.  Instead, Justice Scalia was an ardent defender of democracy.  As he said, “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.” As much as Justice Scalia will be remembered as an able critic of the notion of a “living Constitution,” he will be remembered for his own “living Dissents” – and many majority opinions -- which will live forever in the hearts and minds of lovers of the law, in America and around the world. Thank you, Justice Scalia.