Legal professionals recall Scalia

MU law dean cites rhetorical skills

Marquette University Law School Dean Joseph Kearney will never forget the first time he met Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

It was August 1994, and Kearney was interviewing for a spot as one of Scalia’s law clerks.

“He seemed as interested in my undergraduate studies of the classics, Latin and Greek, as in anything I had done in practice,” Kearney said.

Kearney said Scalia, who died Saturday, possessed a combination of “remarkable intelligence” and “extraordinary” rhetorical skills. He said Scalia was “the most impressive person” he had ever met.

“On a personal level, he was gifted with a great sense of humor,” said Kearney, who clerked for Scalia from 1995 to 1996.

Scalia made two appearances at Marquette University Law School, delivering the Hallows Lecture in 2001 and the keynote address for the dedication of Eckstein Hall in 2010.

State Supreme Court Justice Shirley Abrahamson, who got to know Scalia over the years, recalled that he “had a good way of disarming people and facing up to the realities of judging and getting (other justices) to agree with him.”

In 2007, Abrahamson and Scalia officiated at a wedding together in the state Supreme Court’s hearing room in the state Capitol. Scalia borrowed judicial robes from then-state Justice Louis Butler.

Scalia and Abrahamson disagreed on many points of the law but shared similar beliefs about the 4th Amendment right protecting people from unreasonable search and seizure.

“He was tough in his view, sometimes quite acrimonious,” Abrahamson said. “I think he should be remembered at this time as a respected jurist.”