Justice Antonin Scalia Trivia Quiz

Answer: Roman Catholic

Scalia was born to a Sicilian immigrant father and American-born mother in Trenton, New Jersey and was raised Roman Catholic. He attended St. Francis Xavier Catholic High School. His strict Catholic views can be seen in some of his opinions, particularly those on contentious social issues like abortion. One of Scalia's sons is a Catholic priest.

Answer: To defend Ford's actions during the aftermath of the Watergate Scandal

President Ford was claiming executive privilege and not releasing documents to the Senate committees investigating Watergate. Scalia was Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Council who apparently had great influence over Ford. Scalia told the Senate that Ford was justified in claiming executive privilege.

Answer: win

Scalia had argued for the U.S. government. The case, involving Cuban cigar companies, was rather complex, especially since it took place after Fidel Castro took power and American-Cuban relations were tense. Scalia had successfully argued that the interventors for the companies could not claim it was an act of state not to make payments when they were owed to a foreign entity, even though the business owners had fled Cuba and lived in the United States.

Answer: Cordial and sometimes humorous

Scalia was not seriously grilled on the most important issues of the day. The Senate had just bitterly fought over William Rehnquist's promotion to Chief Justice and was not in the mood for another battle. Ultimately, 98 senators voted to confirm Scalia.

Answer: None

Ninety-eight senators vote to confirm Scalia. The two who did not do so abstained from the vote but did not vote against him. Joe Biden, when serving as vice president years later, said that he regretted not fighting against Scalia, saying the justice was too conservative and radical, but was persuasive in the 1980s. Scalia became the first Italian-American to serve on the Supreme Court.

Answer: Originalism

Scalia, like some other conservatives, believe the Constitution should be interpreted like it was written. Scalia has accused other justices of loosely interpreting the Constitution to fit their personal beliefs and has accused others of creating rights when the Constitution does not explicitly say so.

Answer: Said the Virginia Military Institute could not ban women.

Scalia said the Court was using a strict scrutiny approach to strike down the ban. Scalia then reiterated that he believed that sex discrimination cases only need to pass intermediate scrutiny, an easier set of rules to pass. Nonetheless, Scalia said the ban on women at the institute was constitutional because it was of a compelling government interest.

Answer: A warrantless thermal imaging of a home

Justice Scalia has a habit of declaring warrantless searches illegal, although he usually tends to side against people accused of crimes in most instances. He has publicly said Miranda v. Arizona, the case that established the Miranda warning, should be overturned.

In Kyllo, Scalia stated that a search can be conducted even when a home or building is not entered, and the police's use of a thermal scanner was a search under the fourth amendment.

Answer: Cheney v. United States District Court

Scalia did recuse himself in Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow after being asked to do so by Newdow. Cheney v. U.S. District Court involved whether or not Dick Cheney could keep the members of his energy advisory council secret. Weeks prior to the oral arguments, Scalia and Cheney had gone on a hunting trip together. Scalia defended his actions by saying he and Cheney never discussed the case and that Supreme Court justices mingle with politicians all the time.

It should be noted that Scalia sided with Cheney, but the outcome would have been the same even if Scalia recused himself.

Answer: Hippie

Scalia gained notable attention for this comment. His dissent in this case was mocked by political commentators for, according their opinion, its bizarreness. Scalia also commentated that California was not a true western state, which also gained some attention.

This decision was announced the day after Scalia dissented in King v. Burwell, which upheld health care subsidies for people living in states with federally run healthcare exchanges. In that case, Scalia called the majority opinion "pure applesauce."