[EL] Supreme Court now seems as bad-mannered as congress

[Fredric Woocher]

I found it interesting that in his dissenting opinion in the Prop 8 case, Justice Kennedy - the "victim" of Justice Scalia's stridency in his DOMA dissent - seemed to go out of his way to twice refer to his own opinion as a "respectful dissent."  I don't claim to read all of the Court's opinions and dissents these days, but that struck me as a bit unusual.

Not sure I'd be inviting the two of them to the same dinner party this week.

Fredric D. Woocher
Strumwasser & Woocher LLP
10940 Wilshire Blvd., Ste. 2000
Los Angeles, CA 90024
fwoocher at strumwooch.com<mailto:fwoocher at strumwooch.com>
(310) 576-1233
From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Steve Klein
Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2013 10:38 AM
To: Richard Winger
Cc: law-election at uci.edu
Subject: Re: [EL] Supreme Court now seems as bad-mannered as congress

There's certainly room for everyone to be more civil, and I enjoy the heightened professionalism that's still part of the legal profession on the whole, but this isn't new for Scalia. A quick search reveals he ended his dissent in Boumediene v. Bush the same way in 2008 (joined by Roberts, Thomas and Alito). Especially in controversial cases, I think a little temper is inevitable.

In a conversation a few months ago, I was confronted with the cliché "Congress these days is more divided than ever" line. Upon asking "Really? Was there a caning I missed?" I only received a blank stare. But seriously: that's when I'll get concerned.

On Wed, Jun 26, 2013 at 11:21 AM, Richard Winger <richardwinger at yahoo.com<mailto:richardwinger at yahoo.com>> wrote:
My e-mail is not really election-law related, but since Richard Pildes posted on the election law blog about today's DOMA decision, subject matter constraint is relaxed today!

This morning I read Justice Scalia's dissent in Windsor, and I don't remember seeing such a bad-tempered dissent ever before in the US Supreme Court.  And, yes, at the end, he said, "I dissent", not "I respectfully dissent", the more normal ending line for dissents.  Chief Justice Roberts dissent in the DOMA case doesn't end with either line.  Alito ended his dissent with the normal "I respectfully dissent."

Then we have the eye-witness accounts from a few days ago that Alito rolled his eyes while Ginsburg was reading her dissent in another case.

Richard Winger
415-922-9779<tel:415-922-9779>
PO Box 470296, San Francisco Ca 94147


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--
Steve Klein
Staff Attorney & Research Counsel*
Wyoming Liberty Group
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*Licensed to practice law in Illinois. Counsel to the Wyoming Liberty Group pursuant to Rule 5.5(d) of the Wyoming Rules of Professional Conduct.
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