HR1029 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR1029 LRB099 20682 MST 45302 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Justice Antonin Gregory Scalia served for more than 29 years on the Supreme Court of the United States, rising to the level of Senior Associate Justice; and

WHEREAS, Future Justice Antonin Scalia was born in Trenton, New Jersey, the only son of an Italian immigrant from Sicily; after earning his bachelor's degree at Georgetown University, he matriculated at Harvard Law School in 1957, making Law Review and graduating magna cum laude; and

WHEREAS, As a legal scholar, Justice Scalia could trace a significant portion of his intellectual heritage to Illinois, winning appointment to the University of Chicago Law School in 1977; as a teacher there, he met many members of what was coming to be known as the "Chicago School" of law and economics; and

WHEREAS, Justice Scalia's own juridical philosophy moved beyond the "Chicago School", although he learned a lot from it; in 1981, he became the pioneer faculty advisor to the Federalist Society, which was then an association of United States law students seeking to develop a legal philosophy to fight back against the rampant subjectivity of "living Constitution" legal theory; and

WHEREAS, With a developing reputation as a jurist of American constitutional law, Justice Scalia won appointment in August 1982 to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia; he won appointment in September 1986 to the Supreme Court of the United States, with both appointments coming from President Ronald Reagan; and

WHEREAS, Upon his appointment in 1986, Justice Scalia became the first Italian-American member of the nation's highest court; and

WHEREAS, As a member of the nation's highest court for almost 3 decades, Justice Scalia sought to return original-intent jurisprudence to the heart of American constitutional law, tirelessly reminding legal scholars, his colleagues, and the American public that the power and legitimacy of the federal bench derives from its members standing as interpreters of the law rather than as shapers and legislators of the law; and

WHEREAS, In his 30th year as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, after having actively served almost up to his very last day of life, Justice Scalia was enjoying a break from his duties in the Big Bend country of far west Texas, when he suddenly passed away; and

WHEREAS, Despite the fact that the death of Justice Scalia has come at a moment of almost unprecedented partisanship in United States law and politics, and with significant differences in how persons of different stances view his life and work, many came together to agree that he had been a giant of American jurisprudence and he had always been true to his philosophy and core beliefs; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the death of Justice Antonin Gregory Scalia of the University of Chicago Law School and the Supreme Court of the United States; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we offer our deepest respect to the memory of the late Justice as a comfort to his sorrowing wife, Maureen McCarthy Scalia, and to his 9 children; and be it further

RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be presented to Justice Scalia's widow, Maureen McCarthy Scalia; Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, John Roberts; and to Thomas J. Miles, the Dean of the University of Chicago Law School.