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MOUNTAIN HOME, Ark. (AP) — Mountain Home recently received a visit from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
The Baxter Bulletin (http://bit.ly/1DdGrV5 ) reports that Scalia spoke to constitutional law students at Arkansas State University-Mountain Home on Thursday. He held a question-and-answer session later that day with the general public on the university's campus.
Scalia spoke about various topics including interpretations of the Constitution and what he sees as the role of the U.S. Supreme Court. Scalia commented that Chief Justice John Roberts' comparison of the Supreme Court to a baseball umpire was a fair description of what the court should be doing.
The questions Scalia addressed were submitted by the school's constitutional law students.
When asked what the Founding Fathers would say about the federal government today, Scalia said they would not recognize it. He also said they would also be surprised by interpretations of the Constitution and governmental powers.
"Bear in mind, we have a federal government of enumerated powers, yet we have two huge departments of the federal government that have nothing to with any enumerated powers," Scalia told the audience. "The Department of Education. Search the Constitution for anything that gives the government a role in education."
During the question-and-answer session, Scalia said he considers himself a "textualist" or an "originalist" when it comes to interpreting the Constitution.
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Information from: The Baxter Bulletin, http://www.baxterbulletin.com
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