Scalia Dissents

Writings of the Supreme Court's Wittiest, Most Outspoken Justice

By: Antonin Scalia

Narrated by: Wyntner Woody

Brilliant. Colorful. Visionary. Tenacious. Witty.

Since his appointment to the Supreme Court in 1986, Associate Justice Antonin Scalia has been described as all of these things, and for good reason. He is perhaps the best-known justice on the Supreme Court today and certainly the most controversial. Yet most Americans have probably not read even one of his several hundred Supreme Court opinions.

Collecting the writing of the Supreme Court's most outspoken and controversial justice, the author here presents speeches, rulings, and opinions that reveal Scalia's wit and intelligence, both on the bench and off.

©2004 Kevin A. Ring (P)2012 Regnery Publishing

what a genius

Scalia has to have been the greatest legal author on the planet. I'm so glad he was also an honest constitutional conservative.

Interesting insight into Justice Scalia

I thought this book was written by Antonin Scalia but in fact only the inserted section of the dissent is written by Scalia the story is actually written by Kevin A Ring. The book is his narrative about Scalia’s witty words in his dissents. The book provides a brief summary of Scalia’s life. He was born in Trenton New Jersey. Graduated from Georgetown University obtained his law degree from Harvard Law School. He worked for six years in private practice in Cleveland then was a professor of law at University of Chicago. He was appointed Assistant Attorney General under Nixon and Ford. In 1982 President Reagan appointed him to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC circuit. In 1986 President Ronald Reagan appointed Scalia to the Supreme Court. Scalia was the first Italian-American Justice and is a devote Catholic. The book was promoted to be about Scalia’s witty and scathing writing but I feel I learned more about Scalia the Justice. In the book Scalia explains his advocacy of textualism in statutory interpretation and originalism in Constitutional interpretation. He says he uses these rules of interpretation in every case as a guide to his decisions. He says he is a strong defender of the separation of powers between the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government. Ring stated that Scalia gets more laughs during oral arguments and any other justice. Scalia states he has obtained dictionaries from the 1770 so he can better understand what the words meant to the people who ratified the Bill or Rights and the Constitution. He also obtains dictionaries from the time constitutional amendments were made as he stated the interpretation must be based on the mean of the words at the time of ratification. Scalia opposes the idea of a living constitution or the powers of the judiciary to modify the meaning to adapt to changing times. Scalia has voted to strike down laws on abortion, environmental protection, civil rights, affirmative action, race and gender discrimination. He vigorously defends the first amendment and the fourth amendment and the death penalty. After reading this book I feel I understand Scalia better and how he interprets the Constitution. Wyntner Woody did a good job narrating the book.

Commentary is OK, real jewel is Scalia's opinions

Most of the book is Scalia writings straight-away, and these are amazing. Could have done without the book writer's commentary.

a must listen for all

Scalia was one of the most truthful and open judges of the past two generations. Do youself a favor and listen to this book to help get an idea of what law *is* and how it should be decided.

Wonderful dissents.

This book is like a colorful preview to the book: Reading Law by Antonin Scalia

interesting

Would you try another book from Antonin Scalia and/or Wyntner Woody?

probably not

What was one of the most memorable moments of Scalia Dissents?

the revelations of how he arrived at his desents. I understand the rationale that he used to arrive at his decisions, however I sense a underlying 'justification' based in his own political leanings that he decries so mightily within his benchmates.

Have you listened to any of Wyntner Woody’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

no

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

no

Any additional comments?

I am not a lawyer nor am I a fan of the subject, Scalia however, I found the insight gained into this judge's view point will allow me a more enlightened attitude as I follow the decisions of this court.

Excellent, well presented book

What made the experience of listening to Scalia Dissents the most enjoyable?

The expository about how decisions are made to decide landmark cases and the refutation of all his critics.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

The scholarly and consistent approach

If you could give Scalia Dissents a new subtitle, what would it be?

"and deftly addresses his critics"

Any additional comments?

Great listen.

weird and full of hubris and complicated

I don't know if Scalia actually edited this himself, or who wrote the footnotes to each decision, but whoever it was was completely in love with the supreme court justice. The tone is self-congratulatory in the extreme.

I'm as left wing as it's possible to be, and I read this book to understand the intellectual position of the people who I'm arguing against on the grounds that there are few people who I disagree with more firmly than Justice Scalia, and for that purpose this book is excellent. Hard to get through in places where there's editorializing, but faithful renderings of his SC dissensions.

Freedom Dissents

Freedom Dissents, Scalia has the back of freedom in America ! The Scalia views are the in accordance with our founding fathers and the constitution that are the bases of our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.

SCOTUS Made Simple

A wonderful mind explains in understandable terms with wit and style the often incomprehensible reasoning (which is not to imply reason or logic) of the Supreme Court on major topics such as federalism, protected speech, capital punishment, abortion, race, religion, judicial overreach and separation of powers. The format is for Kevin Ring, the author, to summarize each major topic, then summarize Judge Scalia's general reasoning about that topic, and finally to let the judge speak for himself using excepts from his written opinions, which are, delightfully, the majority of the book's content.

I thought the reader could have slowed his pace a bit.