Summary
Although Antonin Scalia was famous for his acid rhetoric, unapologetic defense of the death penalty and fierce opposition to progressive causes like gay marriage, he should also be remembered as a stout champion of some core constitutional principles that are near and dear to the heart of the criminal defense bar, according to court watchers who spoke with Bloomberg BNA.
Scalia’s strict textual interpretation of the Constitution left him siding with—and often leading—the liberal wing of the court when it came to securing the right to be tried by a jury, to confront and cross-examine prosecution witnesses and to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures.
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The lawyer who argued Crawford, Jeffrey L. Fisher, of Stanford Law School’s Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, told Bloomberg BNA that the decision “put the confrontation clause back on the map and it makes a difference in courtrooms across the country every single day.”
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