Justice Scalia on Arizona Immigration Case (C-SPAN)

During a C-SPAN Q&A interview, Justice Antonin Scalia discusses the Court's recent decision in the Arizona v United States case and comments on criticism of his decision to speak out on the administration's current handling of immigration. Excerpts below. Watch the complete interview on Sunday, July 29 at 8:00 p.m. ET on C-SPAN.

SCALIA: She's right about that.

C-SPAN: You will be doing what you do. But, what about -- can you explain ...

SCALIA: What's this going outside the record stuff?

C-SPAN: That was at ...

SCALIA: There were innumerable cases in which we cite newspaper articles; innumerable articles. There's no rule that you cannot cite any public materials in opinions and only cite the record. I mean, if it's a factual matter that is up for decision, of course, you can only use the matter set forth in the record to determine the facts.

But that's not the purpose for which I used it at all. And, we use public records all the time. The point I was making there had nothing to do with a factual determination. I don't want to -- people should read the opinion to see whether my use of that so-called non-record material was -- was proper or not.

C-SPAN: Were you surprised at the reaction after you mentioned President Obama in your remarks at the -- on the day -- the last decision on the Arizona decision when E. J. Dionne said you ought to resign.

SCALIA: Who?

C-SPAN: A columnist for the Washington Post.

SCALIA: Oh. I don't know that. I was surprised that anyone would have thought that the purpose for which I used the President's statement -- and did not criticize the President's statement, in fact I said it might be right.

But, the only point I made from it was -- well, the Attorney General had argued before us that the only reason the government wasn't enforcing the immigration laws more rigorously was simply enforcement priorities; it didn't have enough money, it had to decide who goes first and what not.

And, the point I made was, "Well, even if that was true, in my view, a sovereign state ought to be able to supplement the inadequate enforcement funds with its own funds if it wants to." And then I added, "Moreover, it has since come to light that the problem is not just an inadequacy of enforcement funds, but rather, simply the unwillingness, perhaps for good reasons, of the government to enforce the law."

And for that purpose I cited the President's statement, which seemed to me perfectly fair. I did not say the President's statement was wrong. I just said that what the Attorney General had told us, concerning enforcement priorities, was simply, as the public record shows, not -- note the sole problem.

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[finny6]

Perfect response, EJ Dionne is a total nobody, just like Eugene Robinson.

[sklanger]

He is dumbing down for the masses -- plebs like you.

[Gtjg88]

Yeah, a Supreme Court Justice should resign because he says one bad thing about the president. But the President was completely in line to insult them at the State of the Union. Freaking Washington Post, no wonder no one reads newspapers anymore

[wakeup4321]

i bet Joan would change her tone when they take her job.

[musicalidea]

You ignored my other comment: as predicted. Obama has deported more illegal immigrants than the last 2 presidents combined, certainly more than Bush. I'm not an Obama supporter, and am certainly not stupid enough to be a Republican. Regarding border security, both Obama & Romney will pursue an identical agenda because they are supported by the same vested interests. Only the rhetoric will differ.

[truthtify321]

please look up youtube video Top Immigration Officials Describe Border Chaos Resulting From Admin's Amnesty Policy

Obama is NOT securing the borders

[musicalidea]

Who do you think benefits from these 'alien' workers? The 'aliens'? No, the primary beneficiary is the ruling class which wants cheaper slaves that have no access to legal protection against wage, hour, age & safety infringements. If you want to go after illegal immigration, go after the major corporate lobbying interests that support it, support victim-punishing rather than employer-restricting enforcement, & the giant expansion of the J1 visa program 2 undercut skilled workers.

[musicalidea]

Ignorant trash, disinformation monger. CA is broke for 2 reasons:

- A financial crisis - caused by runaway deregulation in the banking & investment sectors during the Reagan, Bush 1, Clinton & Bush 2 eras - that led 2 an employment crisis & thus a tax crisis.

- Pension obligations to retirees.

Any1 who calls state-sponsored school lunches & emergency care "comforts" for ppl struggling to put food on the table, working 7 days a wk, 12 hr days, making maybe $16-18 K per year, is a heartless ass.

[musicalidea]

Intermarriage between people who look differently than one another or speak a different language than 1 another, or say they believe in different prophets than one another is NOT Genocide: not by any stretch of the imagination! What is "white"? It was not long ago that British aristocrats & many untitled men alike considered Irishmen of an entirely different, lower species than themselves. Only in the US, after 1 centuries of strife did Irish, British, French, German, etc. become "white".