May 17, 2008

"Justice Scalia: Ruth Ginsburg Is My Best Friend."

You got my attention, but, snappy headline writer, that's not supported by the text:
"I consider myself a good friend of every one of my colleagues, both past and present. Some more than others. My best friend on the Court is and has been for many years, Ruth Ginsburg. Her basic approach is not mine, but she’s a lovely person and a good loyal friend."
Does he have no good friends off the Court?

CLARIFICATION: My question there is intended only as a criticism of the headline writer, not as a suggestion that Scalia has no good friends off the Court. I'm assuming he does, and the headline writer is assuming he doesn't.

15 comments:

hayek said...

I consider myself a friend. Actually he was my favorite professor in law school. A great teacher with a great wit. He was very approachable and much admired.

Joe Hogan said...

Ann, since we don't have the full transcript of the interview, isn't it plausible that Ingram specifically asked him about his relationships with the other Justices? I doubt that she was searching out his general social and mental status.

Swifty Quick said...

I heard the interview. Laura Ingraham asked him what the relationships were like between the justices. What she seemed to be aiming at was asking him whether having different views influenced how the justices got along. And that was his answer.

Ann Althouse said...

These comments forced me to add a clarification to the post.

Trooper York said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
rhhardin said...

My dog is a Democrat.

Swifty Quick said...

Notice is doesn't go the other way. It's not Ginsburg out there publicly gushing about what great friends she is with Scalia and about what a lovely person he is. It never goes the other way.

Trooper York said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
vbspurs said...

Hmm, it seems this reporter didn't watch that famous 60 Minutes interview with Scalia.

Here's the link to the previous post, complete with videos of the interviews.

None of us who saw Scalia and Justice Ginsburg on that elephant (presumably on one of their shared holidays), will ever forget the sight.

Now that's really a sign of being best friends -- taking vacations together.

Cheers,
Victoria

Swifty Quick said...

I'm not talking necessarily about Scalia. It goes far beyond just this one example.

Unknown said...

It’s not unusual to have friends who have completely different political views. As long as you can be respectful and intelligent in your discussions you should be cool.

Really? Then why wouldn't you shut up until Obama had to completely renounced his friendship with his pastor and basically vowed to never speak with him again? Why were you completely incapable of understanding that Obama could be friends with Wright, but that didn't mean he bought into Wright's views.

Trooper York said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Trooper York said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

I'm not the one who has to grow up. I don't give a crap who somebody is friends with, and I don't make judgments about people based on who they associate with.

But I have no problem pointing out the hypocrisy of people who do otherwise.

So Jeremiah Wright says some crazy things. And 90% of this country won't be happy until he completely severs his relationship with somebody who is probably a very decent person 99% of the time.

That's disgusting if you ask me.

So now we know that Scalia is friends with Ginsburg, ergo Scalia agrees with 100% of the ACLU agenda.

Wow - isn't it fun to be a wingnut.

Swifty Quick said...

A pastor, spiritual mentor, and overall father figure goes way beyond "friends." That's the difference there.