Southern Beale beats me to it:

Just to remind everyone about what’s at stake in November, we have these pearls of wisdom from Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia:

“Is it really so easy to determine that smacking someone in the face to determine where he has hidden the bomb that is about to blow up Los Angeles is prohibited in the constitution?” he asked.

“It would be absurd to say you couldn’t do that. And once you acknowledge that, we’re into a different game.”

Oh wow! I saw that episode of “24,” too! Yeah, that was so cool how Jack Bauer saved Los Angeles by smacking that …. oh, wait. That was a TV show.

Never mind.  Read more 

Heard on NPR with the BBC’s Clive Coleman. You had to have heard the tone of contempt in Scalia’s soft voice for the questioner. It was chilling:

You can’t come in smugly and with great satisfaction say it’s torture …. I am interpreting the text of my Constitution…

Anybody who calls bullshit on Scalia is “self-righteous.”  Read more 

As opposed to the SCOTUS:

The Supreme Court for Republicans in the United States.  Read more 

The conservatives had to help Bush steal election 2000 so he could nominate more of their guys so they’d get the votes to start overturning settled law. Of course, Roberts and Alito had to lie about their intentions during their confirmation hearings but heck, they’re Republicans, so what did anyone expect?

Both Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. assured their Senate questioners at their confirmation hearings that they, too, respected precedent. So why were they on the majority side of a 5-to-4 decision last week declaring that a 45-year-old doctrine excusing people whose “unique circumstances” prevented them from meeting court filing deadlines was now “illegitimate”?

It was the second time the Roberts court had overturned a precedent, and the first in a decision with a divided vote. It surely will not be the last.

No, I wouldn’t think so. Say, do you think the Times is preparing us for a lot worse?  Read more 

I kid you not. I know that torture-loving conservatives have a hard time distinguishing fantasy from reality, but this is ridiculous.  Read more 

Fat Tony goes on TV:

[Scalia] said unelected judges have no place deciding politically charged questions when the Constitution is silent on those issues.

The three words?  Read more