MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2016 Regular Session
To: Rules
By: Senator(s) Tollison, Burton, Gollott, Harkins, Barnett, Bryan, Chassaniol, Clarke, DeBar, Fillingane, Frazier, Hopson, Jackson (32nd), Massey, McDaniel, McMahan, Parker, Polk, Simmons (12th), Tindell, Turner, Watson
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION PAYING TRIBUTE TO THE MEMORY OF UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT JUSTICE ANTONIN (NINO) SCALIA AND RECOGNIZING HIS AFFINITY FOR THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI.
WHEREAS, Justice Antonin Gregory (Nino) Scalia will go down in history as one of the most transformational Supreme Court Justices our country has ever witnessed; and
WHEREAS, Justice Scalia, son of an Italian immigrant, was Valedictorian of his 1957 class at Georgetown University and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1960; and
WHEREAS, Justice Scalia, who was called "Nino" by his friends, launched his legal career at an international firm, but in 1967 decided to follow his passion to teach law at the University of Virginia. Justice Scalia received his first political appointment in 1971 from President Richard Nixon. Just before President Ford's inauguration in 1974, Justice Scalia became head of the Office of Legal Counsel at the United States Department of Justice, returning to teaching law during President Carter's term, this time at the University of Chicago. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan nominated Justice Scalia to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. In 1986, President Reagan appointed Justice Scalia an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, an appointment confirmed unanimously by the United States Senate; and
WHEREAS, Justice Scalia, an avid hunter and rugged individualist until the end, died on February 13, 2016, at the untimely age of 79 while on a hunting trip in Texas; and
WHEREAS, Justice Scalia was the longest-serving member of the current Supreme Court at the time of his death, and with nearly 30 years on the Court was among the longest-serving Associate Justice in history; and
WHEREAS, Justice Scalia was regarded as a staunch advocate of free speech and a leading conservative voice on the Supreme Court. Justice Scalia also stood out for his textualist interpretation that put emphasis on the actual words in the Constitution itself and for vehemently guarding against other modes of interpretation by which judges imposed their own policy preferences onto cases; and
WHEREAS, Justice Scalia, a devout Roman Catholic and father of nine children, dedicated his life to protecting every American's right to the constitutional protections granted to us by our Founding Fathers. His son delivered a powerful eulogy and conducted the funeral mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine on February 20, 2016; and
WHEREAS, perhaps no single Justice on the United States Supreme Court, save Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar, the only Mississippian ever to serve on the nation's highest court, spent more time in Mississippi than did Antonin Scalia. Lamar served five years on the Supreme Court from 1888 through 1893, but Scalia served 30 years from 1986 to 2016. Scalia's affinity for Mississippi had to have been more than an affinity for hunting and fishing. The Jurist spoke multiple times at Mississippi State University, appeared along with Justice Elena Kagan at Ole Miss, at William Carey University and the University of Southern Mississippi. Justice Scalia was taken with the beauty of Mississippi's woods and wetlands. However, it was the genuine hospitality of Mississippi's people and the penchant of the majority of Mississippians to say what's on their minds that appealed to him and intrigued him:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING THEREIN, That we do hereby honor the memory of United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin (Nino) Scalia for his dedication to service, his intellectual rigor, his example of friendship and civility across the ideological divide, and his passion for individual liberty, rule of law, and the text of the Constitution of the United States, and recognize his affinity for the State of Mississippi.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this resolution be transmitted by the Secretary of the Senate to the Clerk of the United States Supreme Court and to the family of Justice Antonin Scalia, forwarded to members of the Mississippi congressional delegation, and made available to the Capitol Press Corps.