Reading Scalia

This class will give students a thorough introduction to the thought of Justice Antonin Scalia.  It will do so through a week-long immersion in Justice Scalia’s essays, speeches, and judicial opinions across many topics.  The principal class objective is for students to learn Justice Scalia’s ideas about the nature of law and about the judicial role and how those ideas relate to textualism and originalism, the interpretive philosophies with which Justice Scalia is so closely associated.  To show how Justice Scalia conceived the judicial role, and how he applied textualism and originalism in practice, the class will delve into Justice Scalia’s opinions in a wide range of cases.