Scalia Disputes Talk of Supreme Court Infighting

USA TODAY

By David Jackson

July 29, 2012

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2012/07/scalia-disputes-talk-of-supreme-court-in-fighting/1#.UBZ4HmFSTFk

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is dismissing reports of infighting among court conservatives regarding the health care decision.

Appearing today on Fox News Sunday, Scalia also said he did not know if Chief Justice John Roberts changed his mind about the health care law and decided to provide the key vote to uphold it.

"You'll have to ask him," Scalia said.

Scalia said "I don't talk about internal court proceedings," but he criticized reports that he and other conservatives are upset with Roberts over how the health care case was handled.

"You should not put any stock in reports about what was going on in the secrecy of the court," Scalia said.

Scalia -- who is giving interviews in order to promote a new book on legal theory -- did criticize Roberts' reasoning in upholding President Obama's health care law. Roberts said the law's individual mandate -- the requirement that nearly all Americans buy health insurance, or pay a penalty -- is constitutional under Congress' taxing powers.

Echoing his dissenting opinion, Scalia told Fox News: "You don't interpret a penalty to be a pig. It can't be a pig."

Scalia also beat back efforts by Fox host Chris Wallace to respond to Obama's occasional criticism of the court.

"I don't publicly criticize the president, and he normally does not criticize me," Scalia said.

Any Obama criticism doesn't matter any way, Scalia said: "What can he do to me? Or to any of us? We have life tenure and we have it precisely so that we will not be influenced by politics, by threats from anybody."

Scalia did cite Obama's immigration policy in a dissenting opinion in a case about an Arizona law targeting illegal immigrants; the justice said that comment came in a judicial context, not in a political one.

Currently the longest serving justice, Scalia said the court is not political. Differences of opinion, including those reflected in 5-4 decisions, stem from differences in judicial philosophy.

"That doesn't show they are voting politics," Scalia said. "It shows that they had been selected (as justices) because of their judicial philosophy."