Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia delivered a passionate plea for constitutional originalism, dismissing the idea of the "living Constitution," during the 4th annual John Paul Stevens lecture on constitutional law Wednesday. The Byron White Center for constitutional law at the CU Law School had organized the event.
Crowds gathered outside Macky Auditorium as early as 4:30 p.m., even though Scalia wasn't due to speak until 5:30 p.m.
Scalia opened remarking he was honored to deliver the lecture even though John Paul Stevens would probably disagree with what Scalia was about to say.
Scalia came out staunchly against the concept of the "living Constitution," as in an evolving body, saying the Constitution shouldn't be reinterpreted, rather changed through laws.
"Normal people, when they read a text, they try to understand what it meant when it was written," Scalia said. "The Constitution is not an organism. It's a law. It's a super law."
The associate justice repeatedly named the death penalty as something that isn't banned by the Constitution. But, he said, advocates of the "living Constitution" think it ought to be, consequently changing their interpretation of the Constitution to fit that opinion.
"What the American people voted for does not change," Scalia said. "A felony used to be a crime punishable by death. That's why we have Western movies."
Scalia said the living Constitution will give people more rights, but it will also take away some.
"Don't think it's a 1-way street," the Supreme Court associate justice said.
