Academy Students meet Justice Antonin Scalia   
by Xabier Unanue (2009 Academy participant from Spain)

This year, the 46 students of the Academy had the unique opportunity on June 25 to meet personally with one, if not the most, prominent justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, the Honorable Justice Antonin Scalia. This was first time the Academy had met a Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Following a generous invitation of their teacher on legal writing, Bryan Garner, editor in chief of Black’s Law Dictionary and author of many leading works on legal style, our students attended a reception at LawProse, Inc., where Mr. Garner and Justice Scalia signed copies of their new book "Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges". Justice Scalia was in Dallas to meet Texas lawyers at the State Bar of Texas' annual meeting, and offer tips on how to persuade judges to their point of view.

As it is well known, Mr. Scalia is the second-most senior Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, being nominated by President Reagan. He replaced William Rehnquist after Rehnquist became Chief Justice of the United States. Justice Scalia, a conservative whose nomination was backed by liberals such as Mario Cuomo, was approved by the Senate in a vote of 98-0, and he took his seat on September 26, 1986, becoming the first Italian-American Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States. He is one of twelve Catholic justices of the 110 judges who have served.

Characterized as a vigorous proponent of textualism in statutory interpretation and originalism in constitutional interpretation, which would seek to maximize the role of the legislature in shaping law and to minimize judicial discretion in its interpretation, Justice Scalia must favor bright-line rules and, therefore, pays a great deal of attention to concise and clear writing. He is known for his relaxed style of engagement within the courtroom, including his conspicuousness among the justices in using humor during his arguments and questioning. His written opinions are also known for their unusually commonplace phrasing, combining uncompromising and corrosive writing with his layman approach to penmanship. All of which our students learned from Mr Garner, as the articles by our prominent students Pedro de la Fuente and Jane Wang describe in this same newsletter.