Scalia Dissents

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

By: Antonin Scalia

Narrated by: Wyntner Woody

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

what a genius

Scalia has to have been the greatest legal author on the planet. I'm so glad he was also an honest constitutional conservative.

a must listen for all

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.

Wonderful dissents.

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

Interesting insight into Justice Scalia

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.

Commentary is OK, real jewel is Scalia's opinions

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