Jones, Brian Christopher and Sarat, Austin (2016) Justices as 'Sacred Symbols': Antonin Scalia and the Cultural Life of the Law. British Journal of American Legal Studies. ISSN 2049-4092 (Accepted for Publication)
Preview |
Text
BCJ-AS - Justices as Sacred Symbols - New - Final.pdf - Accepted Version Download (274kB) | Preview |
Abstract
The idea of the brilliant and elegant philosopher judge has a long and romanticized history. From Sir Edward Coke, William Blackstone and Joseph Story to Oliver Wendell Holmes, Louis Brandeis and Lord Bingham, the common law is replete with this vision of judging. In this vision, judges sometimes seem to be law makers as much as faithful it interpreters. In many ways Antonin Scalia fought against this traditional vision of the philosopher judge. He disliked activist judges who imposed their idea of wisdom on elected legislatures; in fact, he trumpeted his jurisprudence for its fidelity to law and deference to the popular will. But even though Scalia fought against the romantic vision of philosopher judge, he himself became a living symbol of a judicial philosophy, a symbol so powerful that sometimes it was difficult to disentangle the judge from his jurisprudence. His status as a symbol and how he achieved his status, was much different from the route of the judges mentioned above. This paper attempts to explain how Scalia became what we call a judicial “sacred symbol”.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Faculty / Department: | Faculty of Business, Law and Criminology > School of Law and Criminology |
| Depositing User: | Brian Christopher Jones |
| Date Deposited: | 03 Mar 2017 17:09 |
| Last Modified: | 18 Jan 2018 17:52 |
| URI: | https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/1782 |
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
Altmetric
Altmetric
