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Much of the commentary about Justice Scalia’s life and career has focused on his contributions to legal philosophy and on his powerful style of writing. Street Law has several resources that will help teachers expose these parts of his legacy.
NPR’s All Things Considered discussed Justice Scalia’s influence on the constitutional philosophy of Originalism. Although it is often mischaracterized, Justice Scalia’s concern was not for the “original intent” of the framers, but rather the “original public meaning,” or how the people who ratified the Constitution understood it.
Street Law provides a lesson on constitutional interpretation, and explores Originalism and the Living Constitution approaches through a video of Justices Scalia and Breyer debating the topic.
Several commentators weighed in with assessments of Justice Scalia’s most important majority and dissenting opinions:
Street Law has case summaries of many of these: