Errors in Scalia story
The article by staff reporter Jimmy Chuang in the Sept. 14 edition of the Taipei Times ("US Supreme Court Justice Scalia gives Taipei speech," page 2) is inaccurate. It quotes Justice Antonin Scalia as saying that "law changes as time goes by because people and cultures are always changing," and that "the [US] Constitution should be a living document." This is the reverse of what Justice Scalia believes and presented at the forum of judicial reform held in Taipei on Sept. 13.
Scalia had explained his philosophy of legal originalism or legal textualism as meaning the Constitution is not a living document and does not change with the times. Scalia's opinion is that the Constitution is a legal document, nothing more and nothing less. It is not some evolving organism. Scalia described his view that the Constitution means what it says, not how it is interpreted at any given historical period.
Scalia commented that his legal philosophy currently is a minority opinion. The prevailing belief among others in the US is that the Constitution is indeed a living entity that evolves with time.
In the case cited in Chuang's article, Scalia explained that he dissented because the Constitution plainly states that an accused party has the right to be confronted by his accuser. Scalia described this case to illustrate how he applies his philosophy of the constitution as a legal text, not a living document.
Allen C. Choate
Taipei
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