The Death of Antonin Scalia

It's been news all week, but I just heard more of the story on NPR.  I don't mean the story of Scalia's death.  I mean the story of his recent life, the connections he formed, and some of the reaction to his death.

Part of the reaction to Scalia's death has come from quarters like John Boehner, recent Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Mitch McConnell in the Senate.  A number of conservatives feel the way Boehner and McConnell say they do.  According to Boehner, President Obama will not, or certainly should not, be allowed to choose the next occupant of Scalia's seat on the Supreme Court.

Interestingly, though, Nina Totenberg, in talking to a range of people, including other conservatives, and even conservative Federal Judges, learned that the latter tended to consider it a big problem not to fill Scalia's seat, and as quickly as possible.  Their concern was for the best functioning of the Supreme Court.  People like Boehner and McConnell appear much more concerned with political maneuvering, and their tactics would jeopardize the Court, and the country, in favor of partisan posturing.

In talking about Scalia, Totenberg told us what we already knew.  Scalia was a very outgoing man.  He had friends everywhere.  Among fast and true friends was Ruth Ginsburg, just to take one example.  As Totenberg put it, Scalia had a gift for friendship.  He was as catholic as he was Catholic (very much of each) and very democratic though not at all Democratic.  As Totenberg also put it, Scalia felt that a life devoted to anger was a waste of time.

It's a shame to lose sight entirely of the big picture, because some get caught up in defending a theory, or a piece of a theory, or just the totem or the mascot that is associated with one facet of a piece of a theory.  People who do that lose the human interaction part of the process.  They lose the connection to the people who are supposedly represented by the theory, at least in theory.

There's no denying that Scalia was a smart man.  Apparently, lots of people liked him very much, too.  I, for one, don't miss him.  Whatever he brought some people through his gift for friendship, he took away from others through his strict interpretation of the Constitution, which, according to Totenberg's summary, he did not consider a "living document."

I wonder if it was a dilemma for him: trying to defend a document that he considered not alive, when doing so compromised people who were.  It's a dilemma for me, when I balance overall welfare against the needs or wishes of individuals.