ARCHIVES: Scalia Protests at Princeton University (2001)

University Welcomes Scalia amidst Student Protests, The Daily Princetonian, By MOLLY GULLAND, Feb. 23. 2001

When Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia comes to the University to speak this afternoon, he will not be well received by every member of the community. A group calling themselves the F23 Ad Hoc Committee — F23 stands for Feb. 23 — will be staging a protest at 7:30 p.m. outside McCosh Hall.

"Basically, we wanted to make people realize we don't think it's ok for [Scalia] to be invited to campus to speak on our behalf," said Traci Schlesinger GS, who helped organize the event.

Originally, the committee — made up mostly of members of the Democratic Left — expected a small turnout, but received a large response to its e-mail announcing the event, according to Schlesinger.

Despite enthusiastic replies to the e-mail, the group has no estimate of expected participation because organizations that responded did not say how many members they would send. Yesterday's snowfall also may limit attendance.

"We're really unsure how big it will be . . . we think there will be a lot more support than we had originally expected," Schlesinger said.

Scalia — known as one of the most conservative members of the Court — has sparked controversy with many of his views on current political issues. Traditionally, Scalia has ruled against abortion and affirmative action. He also sat on the court during this year's election crisis.

Ian Rozdilsky, a post-doctorate fellow in ecology who is also involved in the event, said the 2000 election was the greatest motivating factor for the protest.

"We believe Scalia's decision over the election was a deathblow to democracy," he said.

According to Schlesinger, the College Democrats, Princeton Pro-Choice and Black Graduate Caucus were just a few of the campus organizations planning to send members to the protest.

Outside groups, including the New Jersey National Organization for Women and Democratic March, also plan to attend, Rozdilsky said. He added that the committee has received encouragement from groups as far away as Florida and Texas, and said there is "widespread support [for the protest] outside the Princeton campus."

The committee plans to hand out flyers with pointed questions to people attending the talk, hoping some audience members will make the justice answer them.

Protesters will also carry picket signs and chant protests throughout Scalia's appearance.

The committee has no other events planned after today's protest — it wants to send a specific message to the University about its decision to invite Scalia to speak here.

"We believe that Princeton shouldn't welcome someone who has acted as Scalia, against democracy," Rozdilsky said.

Voter Registration in Supreme Court

Voter Registration in Supreme Court Spotlight, By Jake Grovum, Staff Writer, March 15, 2013

A key provision of the two-decade-old National Voter Registration Act hangs in the balance as the Supreme Court on Monday hears a challenge that, if successful, could make registering to vote more complicated.

The justices will once again weigh states’ rights against voting rights as the court hears the challenge, brought by the state of Arizona, against a provision of the voter registration law that is credited with streamlining the country’s voter registration process.

The case centers on a dispute over Arizona’s voter-approved Proposition 200, which was enacted in 2004 and requires voters to prove their U.S. citizenship before registering to vote. The law contradicts the federal measure, and the clash has grown to incorporate the broader arguments over state control of elections featured prominently in recent court battles over voter ID requirements and a challenge to the Voting Rights Act.

ARCHIVES: VOTER MARCH PROTESTS SCALIA AT HOFSTRA U. ETHICS CONFERENCE, 9/9/2001

SCALIA PROTEST

VOTER MARCH PROTESTS SCALIA AT HOFSTRA U. ETHICS CONFERENCE

Antonin Scalia, one of the five ultra-conservative U.S. Supreme Court Judges who stopped the legal hand count of votes in Florida in Election 2000, appeared at Hofstra University in Hempstead, Long Island, NY on Sunday, September 9th. To add insult to injury, Scalia was the keynote speaker and was honored at this Hofstra Law School Ethics Conference.

There were hundreds of protestors just outside the Conference, including a contingent from Voter March New York that came up by Charter bus. Inside the Conference, Voter March Chairman Louis Posner, Esq. introduced himself as a New York attorney and asked Scalia "Your Honor, you have discussed the ethics of lawyers, while little or nothing has been said about the ethics of Judges. There has been much controversy over your decision in Bush v. Gore including accusations that you acted unethically. Could you please respond to these accusations?" Justice Scalia responded "Yes, I didn't" in a smug and cavalier manner. Posner then responded "No further questions" to remind Scalia that he should be on trial for his crimes. Chris Acosta, Voter March National Steering Committee, never made it to the question and answer session as he was ejected from the Conference for exercising his First Amendment rights when he exclaimed "Ethics - Ha, Ha, Ha."

The protests and Acosta's encounter with Scalia were mentioned in News Day:

Question of Ethics for Scalia Election ruling sparks protest at Hofstra talk
By Bart Jones STAFF WRITER
September 10, 2001

Outside, nearly 100 people yesterday protested the appearance of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia at a conference at Hofstra University, saying the justice helped President George W. Bush "steal" last November's election.

But inside, he was warmly received by legal scholars and attorneys who came to hear him, and he later received a standing ovation.

Inviting Scalia to discuss judicial ethics is "like asking Idi Amin to talk about human rights," said Nancy Solomon, 44, of Roslyn.

But Hofstra officials defended Scalia, saying he has ccumulated an impressive record on the bench and has led a rilliant career.

"Someone who carefully looks at his career ... would find he's a highly principled judge," said David Yellen, dean of Hofstra University School of Law. He called the protest "severely misguided."

Scalia did not directly address the protesters during his 40-minute keynote speech. The protesters said Scalia let his conservative ideology dictate his support of the high court's majority opinion that stopped the presidential vote recount in Florida and effectively handed the presidency to Bush.

A heckler in the audience, Christopher Acosta, 50, of Manhattan, was asked to leave by Hofstra authorities after emitting several loud ha, ha, ha's in response to comments by Scalia. After one of the outbursts, Scalia stopped speaking. Staring at Acosta he said, "there is a lawyer joke right there." The audience broke out in laughter.

Scalia did not discuss in depth the court's vote on the November election in the close contest between Bush and former vice president Al Gore, saying it would be "inappropriate."

But generally, Scalia defended the court's decision to end the recounts, and said critics were divided on the issue depending on political persuasion.

In other areas, he argued that imposing a mandatory attorney ethics code could be problematic, but he said ethics are a critical part of the profession.

He also said too many lawyers work absurdly long hours, short-changing their responsibilities as parents, community leaders and members of churches and synagogues.

Lawyers, he said, have gotten the idea that if they're not working long hours seven days a week they're "not really big-time ... that's just silly."

Copyright © 2001, Newsday, Inc.

PETITION: Petition to the Dean of Hofstra Law School protesting Scalia at its Ethics Conference was personally delivered to Dean Yellin by Lou Posner at the Ethics Conference, along with over 700 signatures.

ARCHIVES: CENSURE AGAINST 5 SUPREME COURT JUSTICES

CENSURE AGAINST 5 SUPREME COURT JUSTICES

Los Angeles attorney Eric C. Jacobson, the senior author of a Congressional
resolution of censure against the five justices responsible for Bush v. Gore,
had his article "Ballot Measures: Justices Who Decided Presidential Election
Deserve Censure for Improper Actions" published in the December 12, 2001
edition of the Los Angeles Daily Journal. It's a provocative piece that
incorporates the essential arguments from our resolution statement, as well
as Eric's outstanding analysis of how the NORC Florida ballot study further
incriminates the Five for their actions.
The censure project address is Censure the Five

National Lawyers Guild Considers Impeaching 5 Supreme Court Judges
The National Lawyers Guild is exploring the legal, economic and viable
political grounds for launching a broad-based impeachment campaign against
the five members of the Bush v. Gore majority on the Supreme Court.    For
more information, click NLG Report.

California Resolution to Impeach the 5 U.S. Supreme Court Judges
On August 27, the Orange County Democratic Party Central Committee met to
consider a resolution to call for an investigation of the five Supreme Court
Judges who stopped the legal hand count of votes in Election 2000.  The
discussion consisted primarily of statements by 12 year old Alexandar H. and
10-year old Natasha H.  These statements were followed by UNANIMOUS adoption
of the resolution to consider impeachment charges.