On the recordFebruary 23, 2016
I rise to honor the memory of one of our Nation's greatest champions of limited government under the Constitution, Justice Antonin Scalia. Justice Scalia set the standard for the kind of judge upon which liberty depends. He was a dear friend, and I will miss him greatly. The purpose of government, according to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, is to secure inalienable rights and the blessings of liberty. Liberty exists by design and, as Andrew Jackson put it, by eternal vigilance. America's Founders were clear that liberty requires separated and limited government powers, including a particular role for unelected judges. Judges who seek to determine what the law is promote liberty; judges who say what they think the law should be undermine it. Put simply, judges must interpret and apply the law impartially; that is, by setting aside their own opinions, preferences, or prejudices. Interpreting and applying the law impartially particularly leaves the American people and their elected representatives in charge of the law. When they interpret written law impartially, they discern what the original public meaning of the law is. When judges apply the law impartially, they pay no regard to the identity of the parties or the political effects of their decision. Judges can neither make nor change the law they use to decide cases. That is the kind of judge liberty requires. That is the kind of judge Antonin Scalia was.…
