Scalia on writing well originalism and a turkey hunting mishap
Antonin Scalia
With “Scalia Speaks: Reflections on Law  Faith  and Life Well Lived ” Christopher J. Scalia and Edward Whelan have given us a treasure that captures Justice Antonin Scalia’s brilliance  wit  faith  humility and wide range of knowledge. When I read this collection of his speeches  edited by the justice’s son and one of his law clerks  I feel like  Scalia  is in the room with me. Taken together  the speeches are a book-length argument for constitutional originalism and for  Scalia ’s understanding of the role of judges in the United States. Anyone who wants to understand Scalia as a person and as a judicial philosopher should start by reading this book.
[ Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia  dies at 79]
 Scalia   in my view  is the best justice who has ever served on the Supreme Court in its 227-year history.  He  and Justice Joseph Story are the only two justices to have published books on constitutional and statutory interpretation.  Scalia  articulated a clear philosophy of a judge’s role  to which  he  always adhered.  He  was one of the two best writers ever to serve on the court and was equal on this score to Justice Robert Jackson  known for  his  fine literary style. No other justice traveled so much and spoke to so many audiences in the United States and abroad. Finally   he  was to originalism what Saint Paul was to Christianity — a tireless and widely traveled evangelist of the gospel. Understanding Scalia is thus imperative for all law students  lawyers and educated lay people. Because the book is a collection of speeches  many of which were given to lay people  it is very readable  understandable and fun for most age groups.
“ Scalia  Speaks ” by Antonin Scalia  Edited by Christopher Scalia (Crown Forum)
Addressing the difference between American and European values   Scalia  notes that “the United States was settled primarily by people seeking  in one way or another  refuge from the ways of Europe. The men who founded our Republic did not aspire to emulating Europeans at all — to the contrary  the project of drafting the American Constitution was largely about ensuring that the American people would never languish under the yoke of a European-style government.”
This is a critically important point that many fail to appreciate. The legal academics and public intellectuals who love European socialism overlook the fact that the United States  under its unique Constitution  is the third-most-populous country in the world  covering the fourth-largest territory  and has by far the highest gross domestic product per capita of any of the Group of 20 nations  a strength that allows us to do more to help the poor around the world while offering military defense to a range of countries. Few people choose to move from the United States to other countries  but millions of people want to live here.  Scalia  appreciated that the reason for this is that the U.S. Constitution is an engine of power and economic growth that sustains “life  liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
As an excellent writer   Scalia  offers advice on the craft. “Time and sweat ”  he  says  are the keys to good writing  and a well-written document emerges only after many drafts. “I think there is writing genius ” he  says  just as there is musical genius  “which consists primarily  I think  of the ability to place oneself in the shoes of one’s audience; to assume only what they assume; to anticipate what they anticipate  to explain what they need explained  to think what they must be thinking; to feel what they must be feeling.”
 Scalia  regrets that most American college and law students never read the Federalist Papers and therefore do not understand our Constitution or the American founding very well.  He  tirelessly urges us to learn from the wisdom of the framers of our Constitution  which so few Americans tend to do.
In a chapter on “Original Meaning ” Scalia reveals that at a conference  he challenged Attorney General Edwin Meese III on how to assess the Constitution’s original intent. Meese argued in favor of a judicial philosophy that searched for the original intentions of the framers. Scalia said he favored searching for the original meaning of the words of the Constitution instead. In his speech at the conference  he strongly set out the case for original public meaning  persuading Meese’s chief of staff  Ken Cribb  by the force of his argument. After  Scalia  finished speaking  Cribb scrawled the word “Stipulated” on a piece of paper and taped it to the podium. Two days later  President Ronald Reagan informed  Scalia  that  he  was going to be nominated to the Supreme Court.
 Scalia  speaks in  his  own words in this magnificent volume that should be on the bookshelf of every educated American.
With “Scalia Speaks: Reflections on Law  Faith  and Life Well Lived ” Christopher J. Scalia and Edward Whelan have given us a treasure that captures Justice [TGT]’s brilliance  wit  faith  humility and wide range of knowledge. When I read this collection of his speeches  edited by the justice’s son and one of his law clerks  I feel like  Scalia  is in the room with me. Taken together  the speeches are a book-length argument for constitutional originalism and for  Scalia ’s understanding of the role of judges in the United States. Anyone who wants to understand Scalia as a person and as a judicial philosopher should start by reading this book.
[ Supreme Court Justice [TGT]  dies at 79]
 Scalia   in my view  is the best justice who has ever served on the Supreme Court in its 227-year history.  He  and Justice Joseph Story are the only two justices to have published books on constitutional and statutory interpretation.  Scalia  articulated a clear philosophy of a judge’s role  to which  he  always adhered.  He  was one of the two best writers ever to serve on the court and was equal on this score to Justice Robert Jackson  known for  his  fine literary style. No other justice traveled so much and spoke to so many audiences in the United States and abroad. Finally   he  was to originalism what Saint Paul was to Christianity — a tireless and widely traveled evangelist of the gospel. Understanding Scalia is thus imperative for all law students  lawyers and educated lay people. Because the book is a collection of speeches  many of which were given to lay people  it is very readable  understandable and fun for most age groups.
“ Scalia  Speaks ” by [TGT]  Edited by Christopher Scalia (Crown Forum)
Addressing the difference between American and European values   Scalia  notes that “the United States was settled primarily by people seeking  in one way or another  refuge from the ways of Europe. The men who founded our Republic did not aspire to emulating Europeans at all — to the contrary  the project of drafting the American Constitution was largely about ensuring that the American people would never languish under the yoke of a European-style government.”
This is a critically important point that many fail to appreciate. The legal academics and public intellectuals who love European socialism overlook the fact that the United States  under its unique Constitution  is the third-most-populous country in the world  covering the fourth-largest territory  and has by far the highest gross domestic product per capita of any of the Group of 20 nations  a strength that allows us to do more to help the poor around the world while offering military defense to a range of countries. Few people choose to move from the United States to other countries  but millions of people want to live here.  Scalia  appreciated that the reason for this is that the U.S. Constitution is an engine of power and economic growth that sustains “life  liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
As an excellent writer   Scalia  offers advice on the craft. “Time and sweat ”  he  says  are the keys to good writing  and a well-written document emerges only after many drafts. “I think there is writing genius ” he  says  just as there is musical genius  “which consists primarily  I think  of the ability to place oneself in the shoes of one’s audience; to assume only what they assume; to anticipate what they anticipate  to explain what they need explained  to think what they must be thinking; to feel what they must be feeling.”
 Scalia  regrets that most American college and law students never read the Federalist Papers and therefore do not understand our Constitution or the American founding very well.  He  tirelessly urges us to learn from the wisdom of the framers of our Constitution  which so few Americans tend to do.
In a chapter on “Original Meaning ” Scalia reveals that at a conference  he challenged Attorney General Edwin Meese III on how to assess the Constitution’s original intent. Meese argued in favor of a judicial philosophy that searched for the original intentions of the framers. Scalia said he favored searching for the original meaning of the words of the Constitution instead. In his speech at the conference  he strongly set out the case for original public meaning  persuading Meese’s chief of staff  Ken Cribb  by the force of his argument. After  Scalia  finished speaking  Cribb scrawled the word “Stipulated” on a piece of paper and taped it to the podium. Two days later  President Ronald Reagan informed  Scalia  that  he  was going to be nominated to the Supreme Court.
 Scalia  speaks in  his  own words in this magnificent volume that should be on the bookshelf of every educated American.