# Justice Scalia - One Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 15, 2004, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-scalia-one-question/274807 "2004-11-15T03:03:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kel_Varnsen_Latex_Division)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-scalia-one-question/274807/1 "2004-11-15T03:03:13Z")
I may in the not too distant future have a chance to ask Justice Scalia a question at lecture he is giving. If you could ask one question of Justice Scalia what would it be? I think the question and answer part of the lecture will be open ended. However, the lecture will be on standing and seperation of powers. And it goes without saying the question will have to be respectful. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-scalia-one-question/274807/2 "2004-11-15T03:10:09Z")
Ask him to define impartiality. And if it’s possible to be impartial when you socialize with a defendent in a complaint that his court is supposed to decide. ---
**Author:** ![Sevastopol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Sevastopol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevastopol)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-scalia-one-question/274807/3 "2004-11-15T03:11:27Z")
With the greatest respect: Separation of Powers: Wartime; Deference or Oversight. Striking the balance? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-scalia-one-question/274807/4 "2004-11-15T05:35:49Z")
So, is Thomas your bitch or what? ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-scalia-one-question/274807/5 "2004-11-15T05:48:45Z")
How about this? ``` [spoiler]Why don't you eat shit and die!![/spoiler] ``` ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-scalia-one-question/274807/6 "2004-11-15T12:06:44Z")
Would an atheist society have a law system similar to ours? Why would it be different? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-scalia-one-question/274807/7 "2004-11-15T12:37:54Z")
Does anybody on the Court subscribe to the theory that the Second Amendment pertains to individuals? ---
**Author:** ![pantom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/34f0e0/32.png) [@pantom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pantom)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-scalia-one-question/274807/8 "2004-11-15T15:44:19Z")
Does he think a large standing army gives the President the _de facto_ power to violate the separation of powers by making it way too easy for him to make war on whomever he wants, whenever he wants, wherever he wants, regardless of the will of Congress? And, therefore, might it be advisable to put in place something stronger than the current clause making Congress reauthorize a standing army at least once every two years? ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-scalia-one-question/274807/9 "2004-11-15T16:16:43Z")
I’d ask his opinion on the history of the court’s interpretation of the commerce clause, before, during, and after the “New Deal”. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-scalia-one-question/274807/10 "2004-11-16T02:20:21Z")
Boxers or briefs? No, seriously I’d ask him what his interpreattion of the 2nd ammendment is. How does the introductory clause affect it. What does “arms” mean, does that mean everything including bazookas and atom bombs are allowed? If not, how does this square with original intent. ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-scalia-one-question/274807/11 "2004-11-16T05:00:32Z")
Ask him under what circumstances he believes the Court should overturn its own established precedent. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-scalia-one-question/274807/12 "2004-11-16T05:37:45Z")
Just don’t ask a “gotcha” question. That’s juvenile and won’t result in an informative answer anyways. I like the questions suggested by **minty** and **mks57**. ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-scalia-one-question/274807/13 "2004-11-16T07:21:01Z")
> [@pantom](#): > > Does he think a large standing army gives the President the _de facto_ power to violate the separation of powers by making it way too easy for him to make war on whomever he wants, whenever he wants, wherever he wants, regardless of the will of Congress? And, therefore, might it be advisable to put in place something stronger than the current clause making Congress reauthorize a standing army at least once every two years? It would be interesting to hear what he thought about the constitutionality of the War Powers Resolution. ---
**Author:** ![Goofus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7feea3/32.png) [@Goofus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Goofus)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-scalia-one-question/274807/14 "2004-11-16T14:43:20Z")
So, will you be retiring any time soon? :wally Here’s a serious one. It should be a no-brainer, but apparently it’s not for some people: When the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the President belong to the same political party, is the Chairman obligated to get any and all Supreme Court nominees through committee, and why or why not? ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-scalia-one-question/274807/15 "2004-11-16T14:48:38Z")
I can’t think of any way to ask this question in a respectable manner, but it’s baffled me ever since he gave [his dissent in Lawrence vs. Texas](http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles2/ScaliaLawrenceDissent.shtml): Does he really think laws against masturbation are a good thing? ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-scalia-one-question/274807/16 "2004-11-16T15:58:15Z")
Scalia’s here today and there’s been some discussion of what he can’t and can’t talk about, both in the classes he is teaching and in his lecture later this afternoon. Anyway, our local paper gave one distinction: \*Can students discuss the duckhunting flap involving Scalia and Vice President Dick Cheney in January of this year? Yes and no. You can’t ask about discussions Scalia may have had with his colleagues in deciding to hear a case involving Cheney a few months after the hunting trip, [Dean] Caminker says. But he adds, “Students could ask about the legal principles Justice Scalia used to decide that he need not recuse himself, and could certainly ask whether he bagged any ducks.” \* Heh. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-scalia-one-question/274807/17 "2004-11-16T16:06:32Z")
Orgies? _Orgies??_ ---
**Author:** ![jshore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@jshore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jshore)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-scalia-one-question/274807/18 "2004-11-16T18:43:31Z")
> [@Loopydude](#): > > Orgies? _Orgies??_ Now, now! Conservatives are sexual beings too even if we might not want to imagine it in many cases. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-scalia-one-question/274807/19 "2004-11-17T13:28:33Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > So, is Thomas your bitch or what? I wonder- did Thurgood Marshall EVER disagree with William Brennan on a case of any importance, and did you ever ask if Marshall was Brennan’s bitch? No, no, I’m sorry- THAT was obviously just great minds thinking alike. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/13edae/32.png) [@Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Cheatem_Undhow)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-scalia-one-question/274807/20 "2004-11-17T16:22:45Z")
> [@F. U. Shakespeare](#): > > Does he really think laws against masturbation are a good thing? Scalia would undoubtedly respond that it doesn’t matter whether he thinks they are a “good thing” for purposes of his job. His job is only to determine whether such laws are _unconstitutional_. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/justice-scalia-one-question/274807.md?page=2)