WASHINGTON, September 21, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Monday criticized the Court for ruling on issues that would better be left in the hands of politicians. He said issues such as abortion and the death penalty were matters for elected representatives, not judicial appointees. Scalia, in anticipation of probable retirements from the Supreme Court October 1, said the appointment process is becoming increasingly irksome because justices notoriously step over their bounds as judges, into a jurisdiction suitable only for the elected. “Each year, the confirmation of judicial appointments grows more intense. One shudders to think what sort of turmoil will greet the next appointment to the Supreme Court,” Scalia said in an address to members of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, as reported by the Associated Press. “The lesson is: One way or another, people will have their say on significant issues of social policy … and judges will be made politically accountable.” Scalia decried the practice by judges to dictatorially reinvent the constitution to suit their ideals. “You want the death penalty? Persuade your fellow citizens” to enact changes in the law, he said. “You don’t want abortion? Persuade them the other way. … Judges have no more capacity than the rest of us to determine what is moral.” On the last day of this year’s U.S. Supreme Court session, Justice Scalia wrote: “This court seems incapable of admitting that some matters – any matters – are none of its business.”
Read AP coverage: https://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-scalia-democracy,0,5210045.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines
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