Justice Antonin Scalia has once again earned himself the ire of law students. Not long ago, Scalia was clearly out-of-line in slapping down a law student for a perfectly reasonable question. Now, he is being quoted in telling students out of the top schools that, no matter how hard they work, they will probably never have a chance for a Supreme Court clerkship based entirely on their school. He basically threw the student a quarter and told her to call her mama and tell her that she was never going to be a Supreme Court clerk.
Salia was speaking about administrative law at American University Washington College of Law on April 24 when he was asked by a student what she would have to do to become “outrageously successful” without “connections and elite degrees.” He responded with an example of arbitrary and capricious reasoning in administrative law. The scene is now something of a signature moment for Scalia.
Scalia first responded with a correct, if robotic, “Just work hard and be very good.” Then that dominant Scalia gene kicked in, and he added:
“By and large, I’m going to be picking from the law schools that basically are the hardest to get into. They admit the best and the brightest, and they may not teach very well, but you can’t make a sow’s ear out of a silk purse. If they come in the best and the brightest, they’re probably going to leave the best and the brightest, O.K.?”
According to his view, he was speaking to an audience of “sow’s ears.”
Of course, it is true that justice rarely interview people out of the top law schools. However, that has less to do with the quality of the students as the bias and frankly laziness of the justices. It is ridiculous to believe that the top student at a school like American (ranked 45th) would not be competitive with the students at these other schools. More importantly, the justices should feel an obligation not to replicate this monopoly system. They hold one of nine positions on the highest court for the nation. They should act to look at students across the country and among the various schools.
Instead, Scalia basically follows the approach of Chicago Alderman Timothy O’Sullivan who once was asked by a young eager college student named Abner Mikva if you could volunteer on a campaign. When O’Sullivan asked “who sent you?”, Mikva responded, “Nobody.”. O’Sullivan responded with the classic: “We don’t want nobody that nobody sent.” O’Scalia’s approach to merit hiring is little better.
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FFLEO,
I just found this link. Hope you like it.
“Republicans and Independents for Impeaching Bush and Cheney
not an option, a duty”
http://republicansforimpeachment.com/
I don’t know about you all but it makes my heart go flippy flop. You call it SCOTUS I call it SCROTUM. LOL
That’s true Mike A. He’s conservatively compassionate–(very, very conservative about being compassionate)!
Justice Scalia is perfectly representative of the Republican model for a Supreme Court justice: someone given to partisan and reflexive decision-making, who enjoys socializing with favored litigants and who wholly lacks empathy.
He who strikes the first blow admits he’s lost the argument.
Chinese Proverb
The GOPers have been yammering about about elites for ages, yet, the place for graduates of Jerry Falwell U is the third tier of the administration, while the top is reserved for Harvard legacies like Bush or garden variety elitists like Scalia. he’s merely given away the rules of the game.
Ratings, if anything, tend to be lagging indicators at best. My PhD is from what was considered a good second tier department. I did a postdoc at a place that usually makes the top 5 or 10 in terms of reputation, publication citations, etc. The PhD program at the top 5/10 school was weak in every respect–outdated curriculum, poor exposure to research populations, etc., and the students were pushed less to perform in terms of papers, presentation, coursework outside their subfield, but they had built the reputation and that’s what mattered to a lot of outside people.
Supreme Moron?
Scalia.
You serving cake with that condescension?
All the charm of a rabid pit bull on PCP and steroids.
None of the table manners.
He sometimes makes me think Nixon found a way to do a personality transplant before dying.
Typical Scalia the wrong law school? Talk about encouragement.
David
Well considering that he stated it as “you can’t make a sow’s ear out of a silk purse” I think it’s clear he’s approaching this from the wrong direction. For those of you who are “city-fied” it’s supposed to be “you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear”
You know that explains alot about his style of judging…
The basic problem with the meritocratic system is that it eventually reduces the pool of merit-worthy candidates to a much smaller subset of those people who could potentially perform at an elite level.
The “best and brightest” may change over time. The person who was 10th best in undergrad may be among the best in grad school, and the person who was 10th best in grad school may be among the best in their chosen career field. It is indeed an arbitrary and capricious system.
One wonders just what heavy medications he’s on for his obvious affliction of dementia.
Junk yard dog got no chance in this here country with the likes of that dog catcher.
What a wood pecker.
Wow, he really is insane and there is nothing we can do except wait him out.
TDAL,
Have you no respect for anything? George W. Bush went to Yale undergraduate and Harvard Business School. One should therefore assume that these institutions take only the most gifted and intelligent people. After all he was a President!
The people at the best schools are the people with money, connections and, oh, money. Privileged little brats who have no idea what life is like outside their bubble. That’s exactly what we need representing the United States you asshole.
Especially as a student, I am fuming at these remarks.
Scalia is right. Look at all the great people we got from the best schools–you know people willing to endorse torture? Yep, the best and the brightest.
Hey old man Scal, here’s a quarter, call someone who cares for your opinion, judicial or otherwise…what?! No answer…No surprise there…
Doesn’t this say so much about this man and his prejudice? He is without doubt our worst SCOTUS justice and considering Roberts, Alito and Thomas are there, that says much about his lack of character and insight. He seems a nasty person, who is incapable of empathy, except to those of privilege. His legal philosophy is more one of sophistry than probity.
This just in: Antonin Scalia is an asshole.