Gay marriage and contraception won’t be undermined despite ominous dissent. — Justice Elana Kagan, Stephen Breyer, and Sonia Sotomayor — in their blazing dissent in this term’s watershed abortion decision — staunchly defended two abortion precedents, Roe and Casey. Their constitutional arguments range from substantive due process to equal protection to stare decisis. I personally find the equal protection argument a…

A compilation of Scalia’s most caustic quips. — “No one has ever written quite like Nino, and no one ever will.” You do not have to look far to concur with Justice Kagan’s endorsement in her foreword to The Essential Scalia. Scalia’s prose is indeed powerful. Cleverly embedded in his erudite speeches and writings, however, are some acerbic…

An adapting constitution takes power out of the people. — It is tempting to espouse a “living constitution.” After all, no one likes their constitution to be dead. Under the Living Constitution, this founding document can adapt to our dynamic society. Chief Justice Earl Warren quite eloquently wrote that any interpretation of the Constitution must “draw its meaning from the…

Scalia was wrong about the Establishment Clause. — I’ll preface by admitting that I have similar views on religion as Justice Scalia. I believe that regardless of sect, religion promotes a moral society. Values like honesty and generosity are encouraged by most religions. …

Stronger through our differences. — 70 percent of our country’s population are Christians. Who needs the First Amendment’s promise of free exercise of religions? Not Christians — they comprise a majority of the voters and elected officials. No sect can challenge their religious practices. …

The more you insist, the longer he will stay. — If you want Stephen Breyer to retire, you should leave him alone. You read that right. Breyer, much like Chief Justice Roberts, is an institutionalist. He reveres the high court deeply and wants Americans to share in his deference. …

Equal then, equal now. — Brown v. Board of Education was Earl Warren’s judicial masterpiece. Over six decades later, it is easy to observe the decision as a foregone conclusion. After all, how could a nation so endowed with unalienable rights abridge blacks to attend the same schools as whites? Yet Warren Court’s unanimous decision…

Consistent words in the light of a changing world. — I’ll preface by saying that I subscribe to the doctrine of originalism — the judicial philosophy that we ought to interpret the Constitution as it originally meant at the time of adoption. I do, however, dissent from the mainstream view regarding originalism. This prevailing perspective, espoused by Justice Scalia and…

A principled, moderate, and intellectual jurist in a time we need the three qualities the most. — Harvard Law Professor Mark Tushnet predicted that Americans would one day find themselves “talking about a Court formally led by Chief Justice Roberts … but led intellectually by Justice Kagan.” After a decade on the Supreme Court, Kagan has met that expectation. …