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One of My Favorite Judges: Constitutional Interpretation, Democracy and Antonin Scalia Cover

One of My Favorite Judges: Constitutional Interpretation, Democracy and Antonin Scalia

By: James Allan  
Open Access
|May 2017

Abstract

In this article the author explains why Antonin Scalia was one of his favourite judges. It starts by excerpting some of Justice Scalia’s most biting and funny comments, both from judicial and extra-judicial sources. Then it explains the attractions of an originalist approach to constitutional interpretation, though arguing that the intentionalist strain is preferable to Scalia’s ‘original public meaning’ or ‘new originalism’ approach. Finally, it argues that within the confines of a constitutional structure with an entrenched bill of rights, Scalia was a strong proponent of democratic decision-making to resolve key social policy decisions, unlike many other top judges.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/bjals-2017-0003 | Journal eISSN: 2719-5864 | Journal ISSN: 2049-4092
Language: English
Page range: 25 - 40
Published on: May 19, 2017
Published by: Birmingham City University
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 2 issues per year

© 2017 James Allan, published by Birmingham City University
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.