Scalia Speaking at My Law School Next Tuesday - Possible Question?

[Hosnon]

Justice Scalia is coming to my law school on 4 April and there will be a Q&A session for students.

I have a question in mind but thought I'd solicit some suggestions from DU.

Edit:

And please keep the questions appropriate...I'd rather not see a lot of "why are you a fascist?" type questions.

- Recusal question already spoken for.

[unblock]

1. under what circumstances should a supreme court justice recuse himself?

just get him on record.

of course, he'll never act in a manner consistent with what he says, but it helps in making the case that he's a hypocrite.

[Tom Rinaldo]

6. That would be a tactically excellent question to ask

in light of his recent comments about foreign nationals having no protection under the U.S. Constitution, given the cases now coming before the Court.

[Hosnon]

8. Good one - And my friend has claimed it already. nt

[donkeyotay]

11. Or, go more specifically to the issue of appearances

Within the legal community it is assumed that judges are professional and unbiased in their rulings. Therefore, isn't the purpose of recusal to reassure the public that they can be confident in the fairness of a ruling when it might appear to the public that a judge's personal or business entanglements might sway his or her opinion?

[reality based]

2. Has he been to any good orgies lately?

[ClarkBayh 2008]

35. Would you tell us what your LDL is?

Maybe you should just ask him to take up smoking.

[Lerkfish]

3. my question

is it appropriate (or legal) for a president to stack the supreme court with members who ascribe to only one side of an issue? Isn't the purpose of the SCOTUS to find whether laws are consistent with the constitution? Why then does any politics enter into determining what should be a nonpartisan decision?

ok, I'm no lawyer, so there's probably a better lawyerly way to ask that.

[edbermac]

4. "When's your next hunting trip with Dick Cheney?"

Someone HAS to ask that! :rofl:

[reichstag911]

5. "As the most vocal advocate of the strict...

...originalist interpretive school of Constitutional thought, what do you think the original framers of the Constitution would have thought of the Bush administration's arrogation of power to itself inherent in its pervasive 'unitary executive' theory, and in Bush's signing statements asserting that prerogative?"

[Hosnon]

10. I like this one - I'm sure someone will ask about his originalist

approach.

The inherent authority of the Executive is a good one...

[reichstag911]

12. Especially insofar as there are NO inherent powers...

...in any branch. There are only those enumerated in the Constitution, and those that are not enumerated are reserved to the people in the Ninth Amendment (if memory serves).

[Hosnon]

14. I agree for the most part. There is a somewhat valid constitutional

argument though based on the power of the executive in the non-domestic arena and the omission of the words "herein" (relating to granted powers) from Articles II and III.

[unblock]

16. 9th:rights retained by the people; 10th:powers reserved to states & people

[shain from kane]

7. If it's ok to flip the bird at church, what about that there separation

of the holy and the profane?

[FarLeftRage]

9. Yeah, ask him if he plans to step down soon

or does he want to wait until he is forced out and imprisoned for his crimes against the People...

[Kablooie]

13. Is that a bannana in your pants or are you just happy to see me?

[PetraPooh]

15. Why the judiciary and the legislators are seemingly so willing

to reduce the USA to an unbalanced, administration controlled country.

[seaglass]

17. No questions just advice to hang tough. I saw him a couple

weeks ago "answering" questions from a student audience and he is one NASTY man. Good luck.

[Hosnon]

19. Yea I'm considering using an alias...say someone I don't like. nt

[Gormy Cuss]

18. Ask him about the appropriateness of government funding to

faith-based organizations without requiring clear separation of activities so that proselytizing isn't done on the government's dime.

And on a sarcastic note:
Flip him the bird while you're doing so. He seems to believe that's an appropriate gesture at church.

[Hosnon]

20. That's a good one. More generally about how far he believes separation

extends and in what ways.

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Hosnon]

22. Hmmm...I'd actually prefer not to get kicked out of school, haha. nt

[izzybeans]

23. Can you point to a specific phrase in the constitution that gives

the President any authority to trump the constitution during wartime via secretive programs not mandated by the full legislature? Because I can't find it.


How about, where in this constitution does it say unitary executive?

He'll then bitch and moan about you not being on topic. Ask him what gives him the right to set the agenda of this Q and A. I want answers to serious constitutional matters. And your dodging the question with this nonesense about topics. You stay on topic.

[Hosnon]

24. That's a very good one...considering he's a strict constructionist/

originalist...

Show me from which phrase such authority derives...

[izzybeans]

25. That's just codeword that hides their grown up "Eric Cartman Syndrome"

"Whateva' I can do what I want."

[unblock]

27. which parts of the constitution are inoperative during wartime?

does the constitution give a wartime commander-in-chief these power:

to suspend the writ of habeus corpus?
to suspend elections?
to "temporarily" abolish the supreme court?

[izzybeans]

30. the Habeus corpus question will be right on point

they just dealt with this issue in the case against Bin Laden's driver. He got really hot and bothered by the other Justices who pretty much invalidated his attempt to suspend it (even if temporary).

[Gman]

26. When did you stop beating your wife?

usually stops 'em dead in their tracks!

[unblock]

28. which parts of the constitution are inoperative during wartime?

does the constitution give a wartime commander-in-chief these power:

to suspend the writ of habeus corpus?
to suspend elections?
to "temporarily" abolish the supreme court?

[quaoar]

29. I would ask him to list

those rights that he considers inherent but that are not explicitly granted in the Constitution. These include things like the right to marry, the right to travel freely within the United States, the right to have children, the right to engage in consensual sex with another adult, the right to privacy, etc.

[unblock]

32. might be good to call his attention to the 9th amendment here

he's already on record as scoffing at the "penumbra" of privacy idea, which i think stems from roe v wade or maybe connecticut v griswold.

[Lexingtonian]

31. Dear Mr. Scalia,

Does Section 1 of the 14th Amendment (a) exist, and (b) apply only to white men who own enough property and are registered Republicans? Do other people in this country have civil rights too?

[Uncle Joe]

33. I am curious as to what his definition of

"conflict of interest" is, I cannot tell that he has one.

[ClarkBayh 2008]

34. Since the SC heard Bush v Gore

even though justices were appointed by Bush's father, how can we take
seriously the idea that the SC isn't a political body?

Once they heard that case they stopped being separate & independent.

[noonwitch]

36. Will you wear an orange jacket next time you go hunting with Cheney?

At least you'll get a laugh out of everyone.

[Gabi Hayes]

37. so...whatever happened?

inquiring minds want to know

[lavenderdiva]

38. perhaps you could follow-up to what DemGirl7 asked him Friday...

that got him all riled up!

link: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=889601&mesg_id=889601

snip: Hey follow DUers, I'm back from my University's Political Science Club's Washington D.C. trip, and the highlight of my trip was that my question to Justice Scalia caused him to flip out. We were down there from Wednesday April 5th to Saturday April 8th. And on Friday we met with Justice Scalia, for a private Q & A session, and my question made him flip out and really really mad. My question was "What is your defination of conflict of interest, because I have a hard time seeing that you have one", he then asked me why I said that, and I responded that there have been many cases that you were asked to recuse yourself from, due to possible conflicts of interest. He then asked me to named the cases, I first named both the cheney energy task force case, and the Hamdin case, and gave the reasons why. By this time he started to get all red in the face & mad, and gave some BS reasons why he didn't recuse himself from the cases. And asked me to name another case, so I named Bush v. Gore, and the fact that two of his sons were on the Bush legal team during the litigation phase, at this time my professor looked at me and told me to stop, but I proceeded, Scalia then really flipped out, and gave another BS excuse, and that called me "ignorant" and said that I "had alot of audacity to ask such a question". He was so pissed, and just flipped out, it was funny. He tried to walk out of the room as fast as could but was stopped because he promised before hand to take a group photo with us (I stood as far away as possible from him in the photo) after which he was out of the room in the flash.

[dorktv]

39. My friend suggests this:

"i would ask if he feels physical evidence is testimonial or not, but that's just me"

On edit...he changed his mind...

If his feeling on the exercise clause is that most of it should be handled by the legislature, and if people want an exception they should lobby the legislature, does he actually expect the legislature to respond?

[Neil Lisst]

40. "Why did you have US Marshals seize a tape someone made of

... of one of your speeches?"

A year or two ago, he had the marshals seize a tape recorder after he gave a speech. He had said he didn't want anyone taping it. Well, someone did.

[unkachuck]

41. should the Constitution....

....be ammended to establish a term limit for Supreme Court Justices?