Antonin Scalia - On American Exceptionalism

Thank You mr. chairman members of the committee I'm happy to be back in front of the Judiciary Committee where where I started this pilgrimage I am going to get even more fundamental than my good friend and colleague like him I I speak to students especially law students but also college students and even high school students quite frequently about the Constitution because I feel that were we're not teaching it very well um I speak to law students from the the best law schools people presumably especially interested in the law and I ask them how many of you have read the Federalist Papers and well a lot of hands will go out no not just number 48 and the big ones how many of you have read the Federalist Papers cover-to-cover never more than about 5% and then that is very sad I mean if especially if you're interested in the Constitution here's a document that says what the framers of it thought they were doing it's such a a profound exposition of political science that it is studied in in political science courses in Europe and yet we have raised a generation of Americans who are not familiar with it so when I speak to these groups the first point I make and I think it's even a little more fundamental than the one that Stephen is just put forward I asked them what do you think is the reason that America is such a free country what is it in our Constitution that that that makes us what we are and I guarantee you that the response I will get and you will get this from almost any American including the woman that he was talking to at the supermarket the answer would be freedom of speech freedom of the press no unreasonable searches and seizures no quartering of troops in help those marvelous provisions of the Bill of Rights what did I tell them if if you think that a bill of rights is what sets us apart you're crazy every banana republic in the world has a bill of rights every president for life has a Bill of Rights the Bill of Rights of the of the former evil empire the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was much better than ours I mean it literally it was much better we guarantee freedom of speech and of the press big deal they guaranteed freedom of speech of the press of street demonstrations and protests and anyone who is who is caught trying to suppress criticism of the government will be called to account whoa that is wonderful stuff of course just words on paper what what our framers would have called a parchment guarantee and the reason is that the real Constitution of the Soviet Union you think of the word Constitution it doesn't mean a bill it means structure say a person has a sound constant to here's a sound structure the real Constitution of the Soviet Union which is what our framers debated that that whole summer in Philadelphia in 1787 they didn't talk about the Bill of Rights that was an afterthought wasn't it that constitution of the Soviet Union did not prevent the centralization of power in one person or in one party and when that happens the game is over the Bill of Rights is just what our framers would call a parchment guarantee so the real key to the distinctiveness of America is the structure of our government one part of it of course is the Independence of the judiciary but there's there's there's a lot more there are very few countries in the world for example that have a bicameral legislature Oh England has a House of Lords for the time being but the House of Lords has no substantial power they can just make the Commons pass a bill a second time France has a Senate it's honorific Italy has a Senate it's honorific very few countries have two separate bodies in the legislature equally powerful that's a lot of trouble as you gentlemen doubtless know to get the same language through two different bodies elected in a different fashion very few countries in the world have a a separately elected chief executive sometimes i go to europe to talk about separation of powers and when I get there I find that all I'm talking about is independence of the judiciary because the Europeans don't even try to divide the two political powers the two political branches the legislature and the chief executive in all of the parliamentary countries the chief executive is the creature of the legislature there's never any disagreement between them and the and and the the Prime Minister as there is sometimes between you and the president when there's a disagreement they just kick them out they have a no confidence vote a new election and they get a prime minister who agrees with the legislature and you know they're the Europeans look at this system and they say well it passes one house it doesn't pass the other house sometimes the other house is in the control of a different party it passes both and then this president who has a veto power vetoes it and they look at this and they say oh it is it is gridlock and and I hear Americans saying this nowadays and there's a lot of it going around they talk about a dysfunctional government be because there's disagreement and they and the framers would have said yes that's exactly the way we set it up we wanted this to be power contradicting power because the main the main ill that beset us as as Hamilton said in in the Federalist when he talked about a separate Senate he said yes it seems inconvenient but in as much as the main ill that besets us is an excess of legislation it won't be so bad this is 1780 said he didn't know what an excess of legislation was so unless Americans can appreciate that and learn learn to love the separation of powers which means learning to love the gridlock which the framers believed would be the main protection of minorities the main protection if a bill is about to pass that really comes down hard on some minority they think it's terribly unfair it doesn't take much to throw a monkey wrench into into this into this complex system so Americans should should appreciate that and they should learn to love the gridlock it's it's there for a reason so that the legislation that gets out will will be good legislation and thus conclude my opening remarks

Channel: AmericanRhetoric.com

Views: 822,440

Keywords: antonin scalia, judiciary committee, scalia constitution, scalia exceptionalism

Id: Ggz_gd--UO0

Length: 7min 21sec (441 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 19 2016