U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia denied rumors that he had “a falling out” with Chief Justice John Roberts over the Obamacare ruling, as he denounced court-watchers who suggest justices decide cases based on political allegiances.
“No, I haven’t had a falling out with Justice Roberts,” Scalia told CNN’s Piers Morgan. “No, nothing like that.” He also said that “the press likes to paint us as nine scorpions in a bottle, that’s just not the case.” When pressed to name his best friend on the court, Scalia said “my best buddy on the court is Ruth Bader Ginsburg — always has been.”
Recommended Stories
Scalia indirectly criticized the sources of the recent story about internal court politics after the Obamacare ruling came down by observing that even apparently accurate sources in stories about the court are violating a confidentiality agreement, and so lack credibility. “You should not believe what you read about the court,” he said.
The longest-serving justice on the court also addressed the issue of Republican-appointed justices voting recently as a bloc while Democratic-appointed justices tend to vote as a bloc on the opposite side of the case.
“It offends me that people point to [that] fact,” Scalia said. “I don’t think any of my colleagues on any cases vote the way they do for political reasons,” he had already said. “They vote the way they do because they vote have a judicial philosophy.” Scalia explained the apparent partisan breakdown by noting that judges “have been selected by the Republicans or selected by the Democrats precisely because they have their judicial philosophy.”
