# 2003 term United States Supreme Court opinions of Antonin Scalia

* The 2003 term of the Supreme Court of the United States began October 6, 2003, and concluded October 3, 2004. This was the eighteenth term of Associate Justice Antonin Scalia's tenure on the Court.
* Antonin Scalia 2003 term statistics
* 9
* Majority or Plurality
* 10
* Concurrence
* 1
* Other
* 12
* Dissent
* 2
* Concurrence/dissent
* Total =
* 34
* Bench opinions = 30
* Opinions relating to orders = 4
* In-chambers opinions = 0
* Unanimous opinions: 2
* Most joined by: Thomas (14)
* Least joined by: Souter (4)
| Type | Case | Citation | Issues | Joined by | Other opinions |
| 101 | Barnhart v. Thomas | 540 U.S. 20 (2003) | | Unanimous | |
| 302 | McConnell v. Federal Election Commission | 540 U.S. 93 (2003) | U.S. Const. amend. I • campaign finance reform | | Stevens and O'Connor Rehnquist Breyer Kennedy Thomas Rehnquist Stevens |
| 203 | Castro v. United States | 540 U.S. 375 (2003) | | Thomas | Breyer |
| 104 | Verizon Communications Inc. v. Law Offices of Curtis V. Trinko LLP | 540 U.S. 398 (2004) | Antitrust • telecommunications | Rehnquist, O'Connor, Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer | Stevens |
| Scalia's 6-justice majority ruled that the allegation that an incumbent LEC had breached its duty under the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to share its network with competitors failed to state a claim under § 2 of the Sherman Act. ||||||
| 405 | General Dynamics Land Systems, Inc. v. Cline | 540 U.S. 581 (2004) | Employment discrimination | | Souter Thomas |
| Scalia dissented from Souter's 6-3 judgment that the EEOC had incorrectly interpreted the ADEA as prohibiting employers from favoring older over younger workers. Scalia would defer to the EEOC, whose regulation he believed was a reasonable interpretation of a statute that did not unambiguously require a different interpretation. ||||||
| 406 | Olympic Airways v. Husain | 540 U.S. 644 (2004) | Warsaw Convention | O'Connor (in part) | Thomas |
| Scalia dissented from Thomas' 6-2 decision, which he criticized for failing to give any serious consideration to how courts of the partners of the U.S. in the Warsaw Convention had resolved the same legal issues ||||||
| 407 | Locke v. Davey | 540 U.S. 712 (2004) | Establishment Clause • state funding of religious education | Thomas | Rehnquist Thomas |
| Scalia dissented from Rehnquist's 7–2 decision. Scalia believed that Washington's scholarship program facially discriminated against religion by excluding only theology from the applicable subjects of study, "no less than if it had imposed a special tax." Scalia believed the plaintiff student was not asking for a "special benefit," but instead sought "only equal treatment." ||||||
| 408 | Concrete Works of Colorado, Inc. v. City and County of Denver | 540 U.S. 1027 (2003) | | Rehnquist | |
| Scalia dissented from the denial of certiorari. ||||||
| 209 | Raymond B. Yates, M.D., P.C. Profit Sharing Plan v. Hendon | 541 U.S. 1 (2004) | | | Ginsburg Thomas |
| Scalia believed that the Court "use[d] a sledgehammer to kill a gnat...The Department [of Revenue]'s interpretive conclusion is certainly reasonable (the Court's lengthy analysis says that it is inevitable); it is therefore binding upon us. I would reverse the judgment of the Sixth Circuit on that basis. The Court's approach, which denies many agency interpretations their conclusive effect and thrusts the courts into authoritative judicial interpretation, deprives administrative agencies of two of their principal virtues: (1) the power to resolve statutory questions promptly, and with nationwide effect, and (2) the power (within the reasonable bounds of the text) to change the application of ambiguous laws as time and experience dictate. The Court's approach invites lengthy litigation in all the circuits--the product of which (when finally announced by this Court) is a rule of law that only Congress can change." ||||||
| 110 | Crawford v. Washington | 541 U.S. 36 (2004) | U.S. Const. amend. VI • Confrontation Clause | Stevens, Kennedy, Souter, Thomas, Ginsburg, Breyer | Rehnquist |
| The Court ruled that the use in court of out-of-court statements made to police in an investigative capacity violated the Sixth Amendment right to confront accusing witnesses. ||||||
| 511 | Cheney v. United States District Court | 540 U.S. 913 (2004) | Recusal | | |
| Scalia declined to recuse himself from a case involving Vice-President Cheney, who had recently provided Scalia with a plane ride to a duck-hunting trip. Scalia remarked that "[i]f it is reasonable to think that a Supreme Court Justice can be bought so cheap, the Nation is in deeper trouble than I had imagined." He also did not believe his friendship with the Vice-President demanded recusal, because Cheney's "personal fortune or personal freedom were not at issue," only his official actions in a "run-of-the-mill legal dispute about an administrative decision." ||||||
| 312 | S. Fla. Water Mgmt. Dist. v. Miccosukee Tribe of Indians | 541 U.S. 95 (2004) | | | O'Connor |
| Scalia also joined the majority's decision in part. ||||||
| 213 | Nixon v. Missouri Municipal League | 541 U.S. 125 (2004) | | Thomas | Souter Stevens |
| 114 | Engine Mfrs. Ass'n v. S. Coast Air Quality Mgmt. Dist. | 541 U.S. 246 (2004) | | Rehnquist, Stevens, O'Connor, Kennedy, Thomas, Ginsburg, Breyer | Souter |
| 115 | Vieth v. Jubelirer | 541 U.S. 267 (2004) | | Rehnquist, O'Connor, Thomas | Kennedy Stevens Souter Breyer |
| 416 | Till v. SCS Credit Corp. | 541 U.S. 465 (2004) | | Rehnquist, O'Connor, Kennedy | Stevens Thomas |
| 417 | Tennessee v. Lane | 541 U.S. 509 (2004) | Sovereign immunity • U.S. Const. amend. XI • Americans with Disabilities Act | | Stevens Souter Ginsburg Rehnquist Thomas |
| 118 | Grupo Dataflux v. Atlas Global Group, L.P. | 541 U.S. 567 (2004) | | Rehnquist, O'Connor, Kennedy, Thomas | Ginsburg |
| 219 | Thornton v. United States | 541 U.S. 615 (2004) | | Ginsburg | Rehnquist O'Connor Stevens |
| 220 | Republic of Austria v. Altmann | 541 U.S. 677 (2004) | Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act | | Stevens Breyer Kennedy |
| Scalia also joined Stevens' 6-3 majority opinion. ||||||
| 221 | City of Littleton v. Z. J. Gifts D-4, L.L.C. | 541 U.S. 774 (2004) | | | Breyer Stevens Souter |
| 422 | Bunting v. Mellen | 541 U.S. 1019 (2004) | U.S. Const. amend. I • Establishment Clause | Rehnquist | Stevens |
| Scalia dissented from the denial of certiorari. ||||||
| 223 | F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd v. Empagran S. A. | 542 U.S. 155 (2004) | | Thomas | Breyer |
| 224 | United States v. Dominguez Benitez | 542 U.S. 74 (2004) | | | Souter |
| 125 | Norton v. S. Utah Wilderness Alliance | 542 U.S. 55 (2004) | | Unanimous | |
| 226 | Intel Corp. v. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. | 542 U.S. 241 (2004) | | | Ginsburg Breyer |
| 127 | Blakely v. Washington | 542 U.S. 296 (2004) | U.S. Const. amend. VI • right to jury trial | Stevens, Souter, Thomas, Ginsburg | O'Connor Kennedy Breyer |
| Scalia wrote for five justices invalidating criminal sentencing system in which judges were the finders of fact for aggravating factors. O'Connor, Kennedy, and Breyer filed dissents. ||||||
| 128 | Schriro v. Summerlin | 542 U.S. 348 (2004) | | Rehnquist, O'Connor, Kennedy, Thomas | Breyer |
| 429 | Tennard v. Dretke | 542 U.S. 274 (2004) | | | O'Connor Rehnquist Thomas |
| 430 | Rasul v. Bush | 542 U.S. 466 (2004) | | Rehnquist, Thomas | Stevens Kennedy |
| 431 | Hamdi v. Rumsfeld | 542 U.S. 507 (2004) | U.S. Const. amend. V • habeas corpus | Stevens | O'Connor Souter Thomas |
| Scalia wrote that if habeas corpus has not been suspended by Congress, U.S. citizens must be tried in ordinary criminal courts. He believed the plurality was misguided in attempting to fashion alternative procedures that might comply with due process, because the role of the Court was simply to declare that the procedures at issue were unconstitutional. ||||||
| 432 | Ashcroft v. American Civil Liberties Union | 542 U.S. 656 (2004) | | | Kennedy Stevens Breyer |
| 233 | Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain | 542 U.S. 692 (2004) | | Rehnquist, Thomas | Souter Ginsburg Breyer |
| Scalia concurred in part and concurred in the judgment. ||||||
| 434 | Cox v. Larios | 542 U.S. 947 (2004) | Legislative redistricting | | Stevens |
| Scalia dissented from the Court's summary affirmance. ||||||