Essential Scalia

(Hardback)

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Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in his own words- the definitive collection of his opinions, speeches, and articles on the most essential and vexing legal questions, with an intimate foreword by Justice Elena Kagan. A Justice on the United States Supreme Court for three decades, Antonin Scalia transformed the way that judges, lawyers, and citizens think about the law. The Essential Scalia presents Justice Scalia on his own terms, allowing readers to understand the reasoning and insights that made him one of the most consequential jurists in American history. Known for his forceful intellect and remarkable wit, Scalia mastered the art of writing in a way that both educated and entertained. This comprehensive collection draws from the best of Scalia's opinions, essays, speeches, and testimony to paint a complete and nuanced portrait of his jurisprudence. This compendium addresses the hot-button issues of the times, everything from abortion and the right to bear arms, to marriage, free speech, religious liberty, and so much more. It also presents the Justice's wise insights on perennial debates including the structure of government created by our Constitution and the proper methods for interpreting our laws. Brilliant and passionately argued, The Essential Scalia is an indispensable resource for anyone who wants to understand our Constitution, the American legal system, and one of our nation's most influential and highly regarded jurists and thinkers.

Reviews

If you know a student who has recently started or returned to law school, you might want to give that aspiring lawyer a short volume of supplemental . . . reading about our Constitution and legal tradition. . . . You can do your part by sharing with them this latest and perhaps most subversive collection.National Review

The editors of The Essential Scalia have skillfully collected and excerpted Scalias judicial writings and a few speeches and articles, and the results are as readable today as they were when they first appeared. That is no mean feat. . . . What makes so many of his opinions worth reading and rereading is not what they say about a particular statute or constitutional dispute but what they say about statutory construction or constitutional interpretation in general. . . . The book will be especially illuminating to anyone who wants to unlock the mystery of why [Justice Ruth Bader] Ginsburg admired Scaliaor who wants to get a sense of where the Supreme Court may be headed.The Wall Street Journal

It would be difficult to name other Supreme Court justices who have had such a galvanizing effect on American politicsand who continued to play such important roles after their deaths. . . . What comes across most . . . is the quality of Scalias writing. It is clear, direct, witty, lapidary, memorable. Scalias opinions and dissents are famous for certain linesthis wolf comes as a wolf; What Is Golfbut on second reading it is the way he develops his argument that most impresses. And he always makes a perfect landing. . . . These arent judicial decisions. They are essays. And like great literature they will reverberate far into the future.The Washington Free Beacon

Author Bio

Antonin Gregory Scalia was born in 1936 in Trenton, New Jersey, the only child of Eugene and Catherine Scalia. In 1982, President Reagan appointed Scalia, who was then a law professor at the University of Chicago, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In September 1986, following a 98-0 confirmation by the Senate, Reagan appointed him to the Supreme Court. One of the most significant justices in the history of the Court, he served for nearly thirty years before his death in February 2016. Antonin Scalia was married to Maureen for fifty-five years. Together they had nine children and dozens of grandchildren. Jeffrey S. Sutton, a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, is a former law clerk to Justice Scalia. Judge Sutton teaches classes on federal and state constitutional law at Harvard Law School and The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. He and his wife, Peggy, have three children and live in Columbus, Ohio. Sutton is the author of 51 Imperfect Solutions- States and the Making of American Constitutional Law. Edward Whelan, president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, is a former law clerk to Justice Scalia. He is a leading commentator on the Supreme Court and on issues of constitutional law. Mr. Whelan co-edited two other collections of Justice Scalia's work, Scalia Speaks- Reflections on Law, Faith, and Life Well Lived and On Faith- Lessons from an American Believer. A father of four, he lives with his family in the D.C. area.