Antonin Scalia

Justice Antonin Scalia (born March 11, 1936) has been a U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice since 1986. He is widely considered the leading originalist voice on the Court and one of the most outspoken defenders of the plain meaning rule.

Scalia, the Court and the electronic media

Jealously protective of his privacy, Scalia formerly barred (or at least, severely restricted) the electronic media from recording his public speaking engagements, citing his "First Amendment right not to speak on the radio or television when I do not wish to do so."

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In April 2004, at a Scalia speech in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, U.S. Marshal Melanie Rube, acting as security detail, confiscated the audio tape of a reporter covering the event. After some controversy over the incident, Scalia apologized and stated he did not order the Marshal to do so. He has since amended his policy so that print reporters are now allowed to record his speeches to "promote accurate reporting." More recently, he appears to be relaxing the electronic media stricture as well -- at least two of his recent speeches have been covered by CSPAN.

Related Topics:
Hattiesburg, Mississippi - U.S. Marshal - CSPAN

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Scalia has also opposed the introduction of live audio and television broadcasts of Supreme Court oral arguments. In a Spring 2005 roundtable discussion with Justices O'Connor and Breyer at the National Archives -- also carried by CSPAN -- he noted that he would approve of both audio and televisual broadcasts if he could be confident that it would go out and be watched gavel-to-gavel. He characterized his objections as relating to the possibility for sensationalism, excerptation, and the fostering of an inaccurate picture of the Supreme Court's operation.

Related Topics:
O'Connor - Breyer - CSPAN

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