Demagogue

Don't look now, but Antonin Scalia has hit the road again. On Thursday, the Associated Press reported on his latest speech:

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia railed against the era of the "judge-moralist," saying judges are no better qualified than "Joe Sixpack" to decide moral questions such as abortion and gay marriage.

If so, is his honor planning to step down? No such luck. (Sigh.)

"Anyone who thinks the country's most prominent lawyers reflect the views of the people needs a reality check," he said during a speech to New England School of Law students and faculty at a Law Day banquet on Wednesday night.

The 70-year-old justice said the public, through elected legislatures -- not the courts -- should decide watershed questions such as the legality of abortion.

In Scalia's world, we'd interpret the Constitution by a majority vote of a legislature. How quaint. The Supreme Court wouldn't have much more to do than the Maytag repairman.

Of course, if we had embraced the Scalia vision of constitutional law, the Supreme Court never would have heard the Brown v. Board of Education case, and public schools would have remained racially segregated in much of the country for many decades later.

I'd say Scalia is one hissy-fit away from losing it.