St. John's School of Law Welcomes Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia

April 16, 2012

On April 2-3, 2012, the Law School welcomed United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia to campus.

The visit began on Monday afternoon with Justice Scalia’s participation in the Colloquium on Law and Religion, an innovative new seminar directed by Professors Mark L. Movsesian and Marc O. DeGirolami of the Law School’s Center for Law and Religion. The Colloquium brings leading law and religion scholars to campus to discuss their work with selected students. The students prepare short analytical papers in response to the scholars’ writings and then engage the scholars in class. Justice Scalia spoke about several of the Court’s recent religion clause cases and fielded questions on subjects like the original meaning of the religion clauses, the effectiveness of history as a check on the Court and the balance the Constitution strikes between public religiosity and minority rights. “I came to law school excited about the opportunity to debate constitutional law with my classmates,” said Yosefa Heber, one of the students in the Colloquium. “I never imagined that I would get the opportunity to discuss the cases with one of the Justices himself. It was fascinating to hear Justice Scalia express his views on the meaning of the religion clauses and respond to student questions and criticisms of his approach.” Professor Movsesian added: “I was so proud of our students. They asked great, thoughtful questions and were ready when the Justice came back with some of his own. The Justice remarked to me afterwards how impressed he was with the students’ abilities.”

The following day, Justice Scalia returned to the Law School for a full day of activities as part of the Sixth Annual Honorable Joseph W. Bellacosa Distinguished Jurist-in-Residence Program.  After a discussion with Law School faculty members, Justice Scalia spent the afternoon teaching Professor DeGirolami’s Constitutional Law class. He then joined Judge Joseph W. Bellacosa ’61, ‘87HON and a standing-room only audience of students, faculty, administrators and alumni for a “conversation” in the Belson Moot Court Room. The Bellacosa Distinguished Jurist-in-Residence Program was established by alumni and friends of Judge Bellacosa, who served for 14 years as an Associate Judge of the New York State Court of Appeals before returning to St. John’s as Dean of the School of Law from 2000 to 2004.

Opening the program, Dean Michael A. Simons noted that the two featured participants followed parallel paths: from their boyhoods in New York City, through Catholic high schools and colleges, to distinguished careers in the legal academy and public service, culminating with Judge Bellacosa’s elevation to New York State’s highest court and Justice Scalia’s appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Judge Bellacosa then guided the conversation with Justice Scalia though a range of subjects, including the importance and impact of oral argument in the Supreme Court and the craft of writing judicial opinions. Countering a common perception that oral advocacy at the appellate level is unimportant, Justice Scalia remarked that although oral argument rarely changes his mind in a case, it often helps him make up his mind by highlighting crucial points. On opinion writing, the Justice emphasized the importance of clear and straightforward prose that avoids legalese.

Justice Scalia then opened the floor to the audience, taking questions from students and alumni on such topics as his purpose in asking questions from the bench, what he looks for in law clerks and whether he has ever cast a vote that he later regretted. At the reception following the program, Justice Scalia took time to talk with law students, faculty and the many Law School alumni in attendance.

Reflecting on the program, Dean Simons noted that “a distinguishing feature of the Bellacosa Jurist-in-Residence Program is that it is about teaching our students. Over the course of his visit ― in teaching two classes, in the conversation with Judge Bellacosa and in all his interactions with our students ― Justice Scalia demonstrated that he is still a teacher at heart.”

Past Jurist-in-Residence honorees have included Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye (New York State Court of Appeals), Justice Dennis W. Archer (Michigan Supreme Court), Chief Justice Frank J. Williams (Rhode Island Supreme Court), Judge Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick (New York State Court of Appeals) and former New York State Governor Mario Cuomo. In addition to Justice Scalia ― who first visited St. John’s in 2000 ― the Law School has hosted and honored five other members of the current Supreme Court: Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Anthony Kennedy, Sonia Sotomayor and Clarence Thomas. In October 2012, Justice Elena Kagan will be a Visiting Jurist at the Law School.