Dinner with Justice by Timothy

Dinner with Justice by Timothy - February 2016 Scholarship Essay

If I could choose one historical figure out of the potentially infinite individuals that have greatly impacted our history to have dinner with, I would choose Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Although recently departed, Justice Scalia was a cornerstone of modern-day legal jurisprudence and remains a true icon of Constitutional Interpretation. For close to thirty years, Justice Scalia has provided the Conservative voice of the United States Supreme Court and has remained vigilant in retaining the separation of powers and preventing the Court from legislating off the bench.

Justice Scalia’s originalist interpretation of the US Constitution has provided the legal community with many landmark major and dissenting opinions from the application of freedom of expression to modern media to striking down many discrimination and hate statutes. Justice Scalia has at times been strict with his view of what the Framer’s intent with the Constitution, but that adds to his historical significance.

The real question is not who I would have dinner with, but what would be discussed during that dinner. As a law student, Justice Scalia is the voice of an era for the Supreme Court. He is, for lack of a better term, a superstar of the legal field. So if I could have met him for dinner, I would definitely have asked “What is it like to be a Supreme Court Justice” or “Why did you choose to vote the way you do” or “what advice would you give to a law student as to how to proceed in the legal field” and “what do you feel the United States legal system should be like?” Justice Scalia would most likely make some comment about originalist views of the law, but the advice he would give is truly a mystery. Justice Scalia is and has been a star in the law and for these reasons I mentioned I would choose Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia as my historical dinner guest.