On the recordFebruary 23, 2016
I especially thank Congresswoman Comstock for leading this tribute to Justice Scalia. The Nation's legal lights faded recently with the loss of the great Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, but they will not be dimmed for long, for Justice Scalia left a legacy of illumination that will continue far beyond his mortal years. Although Justice Scalia is no longer with us on Earth, his cogent, witty, and plain-spoken writings will continue to educate law students and good citizens everywhere for centuries to come. Justice Scalia was no mere legal technician. He was a deep thinker who had an uncommon knack for crystallizing powerful ideas into trenchant, lasting prose. The journey on which he led his readers was always a joy, always compelling, because Justice Scalia always made clear where the path started. He once said: ``More important than your obligation to follow your conscience, or at least prior to it, is your obligation to form your conscience correctly.'' And for Justice Scalia, as with morality, so it was with the law. Justice Scalia always made sure he built his argument on a solid foundation: the Constitution, the supreme law of the land. As a strong defender of the rule of law, he was a gentle legal giant. Like all great educators, Justice Scalia was respectful of others, regardless of their differing views. ``I attack ideas,'' he once said. ``I don't attack people. And some very good people have some very bad ideas.…





