Scalia’s Most Important Decision

With the passing of Justice Antonin Scalia yesterday, the country immediately went into overdrive discussing his successor.

As it happens, one of the first posts on this blog discussed the worst Supreme Court decision ever, and Scalia was a part of it.

While many folks  consider Plessy v. Ferguson, Dred Scott and Korematsu as the worst, there is one that, I think, clearly supersedes them.

And that is Bush v. Gore, for the simple reason that every other SCOTUS decision could ultimately be overturned by We the People.  Scalia was one of the five votes in the per curium opinion.

Laws can be changed. The constitution can be amended. But what happens when the act of democracy itself is suspended?

In that case, then power has been removed from the citizenry.

There was, at the time, only one way to deal with the Florida debacle: Every legally cast vote must be counted. But Bush v. Gore suspended the act of counting votes.

And this, therefore, must stand as part of the Scalia legacy.
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P.S. — Scalia took his place in Turkewitz family history 10 years ago when he responded to a letter my brother wrote him regarding the issue of secession. You can read it here.