Antonin Scalia

It has been nearly a year since the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. In that time, we have witnessed a revolt by senate Republicans over Obama’s nominee Merrick Garland, a presidential election in which Republican’s promised a nominee to succeed Scalia, and now, the nomination of Neil Gorsuch. But who exactly is President Trump’s nominee? Neil Gorsuch, age 49, if confirmed, would become the youngest sitting Supreme Court Justice since Clarence Thomas was confirmed as an Associate…

Reaping the Benefits of What was Once Sown Is the Constitution of the United States of America a living document, meant to be molded to modern times, or is it meant to withstand time as-written? The previous question continues to be a hot debate among the current Supreme Court members. The supporters of the latter definition of the Constitution may also be referred to as originalists. There are several supporters on both sides of what seems to be a never-ending argument. Edmund Burke, widely…

As the case was being decided, a major curveball was thrown into the mix when the Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia passed away. He was one of the nine Justices hearing the case and would have broken any tie decisions. Due to the death of Scalia, when it came time for the Supreme Court to make its decision, there was an even 4-4 split in the votes and his ninth vote would have broken said tie. Due to the fact there was a tie decision Abood v. Detroit Board of Education would not be overruled.…

District of Columbia v. Heller case. For the past 32 years, handguns in the District of Columbia were banned, a response to the gun-related murders. However in a close 5-4, with judges John Roberts, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas and justice Antonin Scalia voting for it vote the Supreme Court ruled that ban of the handgun was in violation of the Second Amendment and thus unconstitutional. Justices John Paul Stevens and Stephen Breyer, along with liberals Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter,…

Interpretation, Justice Antonin Scalia lays out three key elements of textualism, which are also present in different approaches of statutory and constitutional interpretation. These elements guide other constitutional interpretations like, strict constructionism and living/evolving Constitution. The key elements which are present on the already mentioned approaches are: context, meaning and intent. Justice Scalia states in his essay, “in textual interpretation, context is everything” (Scalia…

President Trump has nominated conservative federal appeals court judge Neil Gorsuch to fill the Supreme Court seat which has been vacant since the passing of the late Justice Antonin Scalia. The nomination announcement came on Tuesday night, during which Trump said, “Judge Gorsuch has outstanding legal skills, a brilliant mind, tremendous discipline and has earned bipartisan support.” “Standing here in a house of history, and acutely aware of my own imperfections, I pledge that if I am…

Vermont vs. Brillon In July 2001, Michael Brillon was arrested for striking his girlfriend in Bennington County, Vermont. Brillon was appointed a public defender, Richard Ammons. Ammons was eventually fired by Brillon. In total Brillon went through six public defenders before his trial in June, 2004. Brillon was convicted and sentenced to twelve to twenty years in prison. Brillon appealed his case to the Vermont Supreme Court which found that Brillon’s right to a speedy trial under the Sixth…

Do I think the 5th Amendment protects someone’s refusal to answer police questions when he hasn’t been arrested or read his rights? In my opinion, no, the 5th Amendment does not protect you from questioning. The judges over the Salinas v. Texas court case decided that the 5th Amendment's advantage against self-incrimination doesn’t work for people who just decide to silence themselves while being questioned. You have to claim your 5th amendment right to be able to use it. That way, the…

Specifically, Justice Scalia is thoroughly and devoutly Catholic, and this, in itself, has no negative bearing on him whatsoever; however when applied as the guiding principle in rendering decisions, it serves, at least in the above context, to eliminate from his position any legal legitimacy. Interestingly, Scalia has long maintained and disseminated the notion of himself as an originalist: “he argues that judges should…

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores is a United States Supreme Court Case. This case is about a Muslim-American woman, Samantha Elauf, who was declined a job at an Abercrombie & Fitch store in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She was refused because she wore a head scarf. This conflicted with the dress code of the company. These facts happened in 2008. Elauf, 17 at the time, applied to work for Abercrombie & Fitch. She was wearing a head scarf during her interview, but she…