A feisty Justice Antonin Scalia defended his conservative view of a rigid, unchanging Constitution at an unusual forum Sunday, the American Civil Liberties Union’s annual meeting. The high court’s most outspoken justice, whose views generally put him at odds with the ACLU, scoffed at the notion that the Constitution should adapt to meet the needs of contemporary society, reports USA Today. “If you fall in love with an evolving Constitution,” he said, “do not think that it will evolve in only one direction.”
During an hour-long session, he told an audience of 1,500 that justices could become more conservative in time and interpret the Constitution to retrench on individual liberties. Scalia also defended his opinions in favor of public displays of religion and against gay rights. On affirmative action in education, he said, “The Constitution very clearly forbids government to discriminate on the basis of race. You cannot use race (for) diversity. That’s how I read the Constitution.”
Link: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-10-15-scalia-aclu_x.htm