American Original

American Original

Review by Lucas A. Powe, Jr.,

Antonin—“Nino”—Scalia’s career shouts “look at me. I’m really smart; I’m really important.” That is not the standard way a Supreme Court justice acts, but Scalia is no ordinary justice. More than any predecessor he craves the limelight and the adoration of conservatives (convinced, wrongly, that he is the embodiment of consistency and principle) as well as the disdain of liberals (who, somewhat wrongly, see him as the embodiment of everything wrong with the Republican Party’s goal of taking over the judiciary). Joan Biskupic’s wonderful book, American Original: The Life and Constitution of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, captures all sides of this controversial man. No one, let me repeat, no one, has ever done it better with a sitting justice.

Scalia was one of a handful of conservative academics that Ronald Reagan placed on the Courts of Appeals as a try-out camp for the real thing. The group, like commodity producers, tried to distinguish themselves from one another. Scalia’s niche—which continues to this day—was press bashing. It got attention and the first seat on the Court that opened up after Scalia went to the Court of Appeals. In retrospect his unanimous Senate confirmation, 98-0, was nothing short of a miracle; only a year later the current contentious era of Senate confirmations was initiated with Robert Bork.

On the Court, Scalia quickly established himself as the nation’s principal advocate of “originalism,” a doctrine of constitutional interpretation that holds the Constitution should be interpreted according to how intelligent contemporaries of its adoption would have understood its meaning. Scalia’s biting and well-written dissents in the areas of abortion and gay rights perfectly reflects his quite accurate views that no one in either 1791 or 1868 would have concluded the Constitution prohibited governments from outlawing abortion or homosexual conduct. When it comes to race, however, Scalia advocates a color-blind Constitution but never discusses how contemporaries of the 14th Amendment created a Freedman’s Bureau and considered giving the freed slaves 40 acres and a mule.

The chapter on Bush v. Gore is wisely titled “Get over it,” which is what Scalia tells questioners who bring up the case. His problem is that the five-justice majority which he joined looks entirely political. The conservative Republicans took an expansive view of equal protection and gave the Florida Supreme Court no credence in its interpretation of Florida law—in both circumstances cutting against the conservative principles they adhere to in other cases. Like the other chapters, Biskupic is excellent in weaving Scalia’s out-of-Court statements together with his opinions from the Bench.

For those, like the reviewer, who follow the Supreme Court, American Original is a must-read. But it is also an enlightening and enjoyable read, one that anyone interested in the political and judicial debates of the past four decades will profit from.

Hardcover: 448 pages

Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux ( November 10, 2009 )

Item #: 47-3170

ISBN: 9780374202897

Product Dimensions: 6.0 x 9.0 x 1.05 inches

Product Weight: 20.0 ounces