Justice Alito’s Guiding Mantra: “What Would Scalia Do?”

Speaking before the conservative Federalist Society’s National Lawyers Convention, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito listed many issues that concerned him – including gun rights and alleged overreach by government agencies – and said his guiding principle in considering cases would be: “What would Scalia do?” The Federalist Society, along with the Heritage Foundation, have advised President-Elect Donald Trump on his list of potential nominees to fill the vacancy left on the Supreme Court when Justice Antonin Scalia died earlier this year. Of particular concern, Alito said, was Justice Stephen Breyer’s dissent in the gun-rights District of Columbia v. Heller case that “provides a road map for denaturing Heller without actually overruling it.” He also cited the fact that more than 40 Senators signaled they would support a Constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United v. FEC. “What would that amendment do?” Alito asked. “It would have the effect of granting greater free-speech rights to an elite group – those who control the media – than to everybody else.” More personally, Alito said that Scalia’s absence has been felt outside of jurisprudence. “[T]here has been a palpable emptiness in the room,” he said. “Something vital is obviously missing.”