In a widely-quoted comment, Justice Scalia said at a university in Cleveland that civil liberties may be properly curtailed during wartime:
"The Constitution just sets minimums. . . Most of the rights that you enjoy go way beyond what the Constitution requires."
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Scalia did not discuss what rights he believed are constitutionally protected, but said that in wartime, one can expect "the protections will be ratcheted right down to the constitutional minimum. I won't let it go beyond the constitutional minimum."
Sheesh. An incredibly dumb comment. And he didn't even say "we won't".
I am far from being a Nino-basher. Indeed, his approach to jurisprudence and statutory interpretation is close to but not identical to mine. But this comment strikes me as, let us say, injudicious. I don't think he had any idea of the connotations carried by his comment. Things that are "ratcheted right down" in times of crisis include thumbscrews and the rack.
There is a reason that judges are expected to approach these issues with a sense of solemnity and deliberation. Off-the-cuff comments by Supreme Court Justices do not play well in the political arena.
3:36:37 PM 
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