Justice Scalia On The Record60 Minutes' Lesley Stahl Interviews The Supreme Court Justice About His Public And Private Life
(CBS) His years at Xavier, where he went to mass at the church of St. Francis Xavier next door, deepened his Catholic faith.
Scalia says he gave the priesthood some thought.
"And decided no?" Stahl asks.
"And decided he was not calling me," Scalia explains.
"What is the connection between your Catholicism, your Jesuit education, and your judicial philosophy?" Stahl asks.
"It has nothing to do with how I decide cases," Scalia replies. "My job is to interpret the Constitution accurately. And indeed, there are anti-abortion people who think that the constitution requires a state to prohibit abortion. They say that the Equal Protection Clause requires that you treat a helpless human being that's still in the womb the way you treat other human beings. I think that's wrong. I think when the Constitution says that persons are entitled to equal protection of the laws, I think it clearly means walking-around persons. You don't count pregnant women twice."
He's not the only Catholic on the court - there are four others. "I've sort of been pleased that has not be a big deal that there are five Catholics on the court. Because I don’t think religion is one of the things that divides us. I do think ethnicity is," Scalia says.
"But you could see that if there is a sixth Catholic on the court, that there would be some kind of protest out there," Stahl asks,
"Maybe. The next appointee to the court is going to be a female, Protestant Hispanic. If you could find that woman, she's in!" Scalia says, laughing.
His confirmation hearings in 1986 were a breeze, and the Senate vote was unanimous. Appointed by Ronald Reagan, he was sworn in at age 50, the first Italian-American to ever serve on the Supreme Court.
"I was astounded at the amount of mail I got from Italian-Americans who were so proud. And I think the reason is they have this Mafioso thing hung around their neck. You can have an Italian governor, but he can still be a crook. But an Italian Supreme Court justice, that meant a lot to them. It was a sign of integrity, of honesty, of intellectual accomplishment," Scalia says.
He met his wife Maureen in Cambridge when she was a senior at Radcliffe and he was in his last year at Harvard Law School. They have been married for 48 years and rarely disagree, they say.
"She says she could have married so-and-so…," Scalia says.
"Oh, not really," his wife replies.
"You do. You say that. And of course the reason she didn't was that 'so-and-so [was] wishy-washy,'" Scalia says.
"This is absolutely true. He will say, 'You would have been bored.' I say, 'Oh, that’s right!' I would have been bored," Maureen Scalia says. "I would have been bored."
But she says she hasn't been bored.
"Whatever my faults are, I am not wishy-washy," Antonin Scalia adds.
The marriage has flourished: they have 9 children and 28 grandchildren.
Why so many children?
"Well, as someone said, they’re both overachievers, I guess," Maureen Scalia jokes, laughing.
"Well, we didn't set out to have nine children. We're just old-fashioned Catholics, you know? Playing what used to be known as 'Vatican roulette,'" Scalia jokes.
Continued
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Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/24/60minutes/main4040290_page6.shtml
