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Justice Scalia was a model for us all
I mourn for our country. We have lost truly one of the greats of the ages.
(Photo: submitted image)
I write this in brief because words are hard to come by and tears are still fresh in my eyes in the hours after hearing of the sudden and unexpected death of my Supreme Court justice – Antonin Scalia.
When someone learns that I clerked for Justice Scalia, the most common question I am asked is, “What was it like?”
My answer has always been the same: It was intimidating, inspiring, and an experience I thank God for every day.
Imagine being a young 25-year-old clerk working as a professional intimate of one of the 10 greatest figures in the history of Anglo-American law in a thousand years of that tradition. You might as well ask me what was it like to clerk for Lord Chief JusticeEdward Coke or Chief Justice John Marshall.
There are many judges and justices who have written landmark opinions. But few of them have shaped or reshaped the entire philosophy of legal interpretation and the role of the courts as Scalia did.
We clerks counted ourselves lucky if so much as one sentence we had drafted remained intact after the justice had spent an evening in his chair at home working the keyboard – with a red wine in hand. Every word in his body of work was authentically “Scalia.”
Although this will surprise many, I remember the justice as uncompromisingly intellectually humble. He was always willing to follow logic, research and reasoning wherever it might take him, regardless of where his initial instincts and understandings may have placed him.
He was completely devoted to the rule of law and to a textualism that respected the role and meaning of language used by those who wrote our great Constitution and those vested through the Constitution with the power of creating our laws.
Scalia believed words have meaning. Oddly, that set him against many in the current age.
The most important volume in his private chambers when I clerked for him was theWebster’s Unabridged Dictionary, Second Edition. He hated the Third Edition. It was an abomination because it described how words were used, rather than how they should be used, as the Second Edition had done.
The Second Edition still sits next to my desk at home in tribute to him.
I never saw him delight as much as when his textualism brought the Court (or him) to what one might consider a “liberal” outcome. These were the proof cases that allowed him to demonstrate the integrity and power of his philosophy of interpretation.
More than the justice, though, was the man himself. He was a model for us all. His priorities were always God, family and country – in that order.
I mourn with Maureen and his family.
I mourn for our country. We have lost truly one of the greats of the ages.
I learned so much from him about the law, history and government. I learned much more from him about my faith by his example and words – in ways he perhaps never even knew.
He was a wise mentor and counselor.
I pray that God will grant Scalia, his good and faithful servant, memory eternal.
Alex M. Azar II clerked for Associate Justice Antonin Scalia in October Term 1992, served as deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and is now president of Lilly USA, LLC. The son of Dr. Alex Azar, Azar is a 1985 graduate of Parkside High School.
I'm sure the letter refers to Chief Justice John Marshall, who served from 1801 to 1835.; not Justice Thurgood Marshall, who was never Chief Justice.
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6 comments:
Sad
This is why the liberals hated him. He stood for the opposite of what they stand for.
Wonderfully written tribute to "him.'"
As a "community" and/or "engagement" editor, Parker leaves a lot to be desired.
Back in the old days when they allowed open/anonymous commenting, if you didn't agree with her, she'd snark a reply if your comment wasn't deleted.
Susan Parker you were just busted!! Not only did you get caught editing a letter to the editor you got caught proving you are one ignorant and uneducated women. You are the reason for the Daily Rags demise! Go away Susan Hargreaves Parker you are not wanted here and you are not liked.
The job of editor is to edit. None of us know what the original said. It may have just said Justice Marshall and she picked the wrong one or maybe Azar got it wrong somehow. You note she fixed it right away. That's because there is a belief in the old school publishing business that it should be done right and if done wrong corrections should be made.
If the paper wasn't willing to print the message they would not have printed it at all. But they will print anybody's letter if it is in good taste.
It should be obvious that this was well written and thus published.
Talking negative about Parker's work is like talking negative about teacher work. Most, if not all of you, would collapse if you had to meet the deadlines she has to met in every day.
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