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Scalia Dissents

Writings of the Supreme Court's Wittiest, Most Outspoken Justice

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Scalia Dissents

By: Antonin Scalia
Narrated by: Wyntner Woody
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Brilliant. Colorful. Visionary. Tenacious. Witty.

Since his appointment to the Supreme Court in 1986, Associate Justice Antonin Scalia has been described as all of these things, and for good reason. He is perhaps the best-known justice on the Supreme Court today and certainly the most controversial. Yet most Americans have probably not read even one of his several hundred Supreme Court opinions.

Collecting the writing of the Supreme Court's most outspoken and controversial justice, the author here presents speeches, rulings, and opinions that reveal Scalia's wit and intelligence, both on the bench and off.

©2004 Kevin A. Ring (P)2012 Regnery Publishing Conservatism & Liberalism Ideologies & Doctrines Judicial Systems Law Politics & Government Professionals & Academics Thought-Provoking Witty Suffrage

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Elegant Dissents • Logical Reasoning • Eloquent Text • Articulate Writing • Constitutional Insights • Diverse Thinking
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Scalia has to have been the greatest legal author on the planet. I'm so glad he was also an honest constitutional conservative.

what a genius

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Scalia was one of the most truthful and open judges of the past two generations. Do youself a favor and listen to this book to help get an idea of what law *is* and how it should be decided.

a must listen for all

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This book is like a colorful preview to the book: Reading Law by Antonin Scalia

Wonderful dissents.

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I thought this book was written by Antonin Scalia but in fact only the inserted section of the dissent is written by Scalia the story is actually written by Kevin A Ring. The book is his narrative about Scalia’s witty words in his dissents. The book provides a brief summary of Scalia’s life. He was born in Trenton New Jersey. Graduated from Georgetown University obtained his law degree from Harvard Law School. He worked for six years in private practice in Cleveland then was a professor of law at University of Chicago. He was appointed Assistant Attorney General under Nixon and Ford. In 1982 President Reagan appointed him to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC circuit. In 1986 President Ronald Reagan appointed Scalia to the Supreme Court. Scalia was the first Italian-American Justice and is a devote Catholic. The book was promoted to be about Scalia’s witty and scathing writing but I feel I learned more about Scalia the Justice. In the book Scalia explains his advocacy of textualism in statutory interpretation and originalism in Constitutional interpretation. He says he uses these rules of interpretation in every case as a guide to his decisions. He says he is a strong defender of the separation of powers between the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government. Ring stated that Scalia gets more laughs during oral arguments and any other justice. Scalia states he has obtained dictionaries from the 1770 so he can better understand what the words meant to the people who ratified the Bill or Rights and the Constitution. He also obtains dictionaries from the time constitutional amendments were made as he stated the interpretation must be based on the mean of the words at the time of ratification. Scalia opposes the idea of a living constitution or the powers of the judiciary to modify the meaning to adapt to changing times. Scalia has voted to strike down laws on abortion, environmental protection, civil rights, affirmative action, race and gender discrimination. He vigorously defends the first amendment and the fourth amendment and the death penalty. After reading this book I feel I understand Scalia better and how he interprets the Constitution. Wyntner Woody did a good job narrating the book.

Interesting insight into Justice Scalia

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Most of the book is Scalia writings straight-away, and these are amazing. Could have done without the book writer's commentary.

Commentary is OK, real jewel is Scalia's opinions

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Would you try another book from Antonin Scalia and/or Wyntner Woody?

probably not

What was one of the most memorable moments of Scalia Dissents?

the revelations of how he arrived at his desents. I understand the rationale that he used to arrive at his decisions, however I sense a underlying 'justification' based in his own political leanings that he decries so mightily within his benchmates.

Have you listened to any of Wyntner Woody’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

no

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

no

Any additional comments?

I am not a lawyer nor am I a fan of the subject, Scalia however, I found the insight gained into this judge's view point will allow me a more enlightened attitude as I follow the decisions of this court.

interesting

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What made the experience of listening to Scalia Dissents the most enjoyable?

The expository about how decisions are made to decide landmark cases and the refutation of all his critics.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

The scholarly and consistent approach

If you could give Scalia Dissents a new subtitle, what would it be?

"and deftly addresses his critics"

Any additional comments?

Great listen.

Excellent, well presented book

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I don't know if Scalia actually edited this himself, or who wrote the footnotes to each decision, but whoever it was was completely in love with the supreme court justice. The tone is self-congratulatory in the extreme.

I'm as left wing as it's possible to be, and I read this book to understand the intellectual position of the people who I'm arguing against on the grounds that there are few people who I disagree with more firmly than Justice Scalia, and for that purpose this book is excellent. Hard to get through in places where there's editorializing, but faithful renderings of his SC dissensions.

weird and full of hubris and complicated

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If I learned anything, it is that Scalia is a more diverse thinker than I ever knew. As a critic on some of his decisions, I walk away with a profound sense of respect for the time he took to communicate the intricacies of the law.

Interesting logic

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After 30 years on the US Supreme Court Antonin Scalia died yesterday at age 79. This book was released 11.5 years ago but was updated in 2012 so it does cover most his career. Like him or not, Scalia was a judicial giant and one of the most intelligent people ever to serve in the US government.

Scalia did not write this book although he is listed as the author. The book discussed his early years and quotes very extensively from his dissenting opinions on important cases. The book does not quote from any of his majority opinions. Scalia's style, wit, and rhetoric is on full display in this book.

The great value of the book is in explaining the Scalia method of constitutional and law interpretation. He called it "textualism". Textualism is different from originalism and conservatism. Scalia's method was rational and consistent; that statement cannot be made about any other recent Supreme Court Justice, not even Thomas or Alito (the two who come closest).

The US Constitution did not intend for the Supreme Court to become political, yet most of the current members vote their political beliefs rather than interpret the Constitution. Maybe the time has come to change the Constitution to make Supreme Court members answerable to voters serving 12 or 18 year terms rather than be appointed for life. The current system is not working and the death of Antonin Scalia means it will work less well in the future.

Justice Antonin Scalia died yesterday

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