Scalia Says Courts Can’t Dictate Morality
Justice Antonin Scalia told students at Missisippi State University last night that morality dictated by the courts is doomed to fail.
“It is blindingly clear that judges have no greater capacity than the rest of us to determine what is moral,” Scalia said, according to a report on his remarks in the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.
Scalia said those who interpret the Constitution as a living document open to changing interpretation will be improperly influenced by politics. “The principal function of the courts is not to do what the majority wants, but what the Constitution prescribes,” he said.
Reporters were allowed to tape Scalia’s remarks for note taking, but not for broadcast, the Clarion-Ledger reports. At a previous speech in the state, U.S. marshals confiscated recordings of a Scalia speech, resulting in a lawsuit and a settlement. Scalia apologized for the previous incident.
A hat tip to How Appealing, which posted the Daily Journal story.
