Supreme Court Justice and model for Republican judges Antonin Scalia:
In an appearance at the University of Arizona, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia “said he likely would have dissented from the historic 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision that declared school segregation illegal and struck down the system of ‘separate but equal’; public schools,” the East Valley Tribune reports.
“He said that decision, which overturned earlier precedent, was designed to provide an approach the majority liked better.”
“I will stipulate that it will,” Scalia said. But he said that doesn’t make it right.
Scalia doesn’t get to pretend anymore that he’s all about adhering to precedent. The conservative wing of the court has overturned many, many precedents including ones on abortion and gun rights. The conservative wing is set to make a huge change to campaign finance laws. Scalia is a judicial activist.
Scalia is still a scumbag but it appears he was misquoted:
As I suspected, Justice Scalia did not say he would have dissented in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. The newspaper account is incorrect and took his remarks out of context. The author of the article, Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services, owes Justice Scalia an apology.
And I apologize for quoting this incorrect article in my original post.
Here is the video of the event:
At 23:45 Justice Scalia is clearly misquoted. He says that he stands with Justice Harlan, who dissented in Plessy v. Ferguson. He argues that the original meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits racial discrimination.