Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia believes society is eroding because women use the 'F-word' and thinks Facebook is 'strange'

  • Scalia, 77, is a conservative icon on the court and the longest-serving justice - appointed in 1986
  • In wide-ranging interview he said there can be 'intelligent reasons' to discriminate against women
  • Says he believes the Devil is still at work in the modern world
  • Scalia also says flogging is constitutionally-allowable

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia believes American society is eroding in party because women are using the 'F-word' and also thinks social media is 'strange.'

The court's longest-serving justice - appointed in 1986 - has opened a window into the man behind the robes - a conservative icon who has helped push the ideas of orginalism and textualism into the legal and political mainstream.

In a recent wide-ranging interview with New York magazine, he offered several insights into his personality - along with a few unorthodox opinions.

Conservative: Antonin Scalia, 77, has become an icon for conservatives since his appointment in 1986

Conservative: Antonin Scalia, 77, has become an icon for conservatives since his appointment in 1986

Among his more fascinating comments are: a law using flogging as a criminal punishment would be constitutional, that there is a reasonable legal basis for some discrimination against women - like in combat - and that the Devil is still very much at work in the modern world.

The 77-year-old Scalia, raised in Queens, New York, by an Italian-American mother and a Sicilian immigrant father, said that he believes American society is sliding downhill. He is perhaps most concerned about the 'coarseness' that culture has taken on.

'You can’t go to a movie - or watch a television show for that matter - without hearing the constant use of the "F-word" - including, you know, ladies using it... If you portray it a lot, the society’s going to become that way. It’s very sad,' he lamented.

He also said that while there is no legally-acceptable reason to discriminate against someone on the basis of their race, there can be legal justification to discriminate against someone on account of their sex.

'If there’s a reasonable basis for not ­letting women do something - like going into combat or whatnot...' he thinks it could be Constitutionally acceptable.

Outspoken: Scalia offered several opinions during a recent interview, including his belief that there are 'intelligent reasons' to discriminate against women

Outspoken: Scalia offered several opinions during a recent interview, including his belief that there are 'intelligent reasons' to discriminate against women

CAMPAIGN DONATIONS AND ABORTION PROTESTS: NEW SUPREME COURT SESSION LIKELY TO BE CONTROVERSIAL

The newest session of the U.S. Supreme Court opened today with a docket that includes numerous cases that are likely to prove contentious and controversial yet again.

Among the cases selected to be heard this session are:

  • Challenges to a law limited individual contributions to PACs, political parties and federal candidates
  • The constitutionality of the Michigan state constitution's ban on Affirmative Action - or whether the practice is protected by the U.S. Constitution
  • A review of whether buffer laws requiring abortion protestors to stand away from clinics violates the free speech of protestors

The court has not yet been affected by the government shutdown, though Chief Justice John Roberts said the justices might be forced to pause their work after October 11.

'...there are some intelligent reasons to treat women differently. I don’t think anybody would deny that.'

He added: 'And there really is no, virtually no, intelligent reason to treat people differently on the basis of their skin.'

Scalia was appointed by President Ronald Reagan and joined the bench in 1986 - five years before the first web page was published on the Internet.

That revelation might help explain his opinions on social networking.

'I don’t know why anyone would like to be 'friended' on the network. I mean, what kind of a narcissistic society is it that ­people want to put out there? "This is my life, and this is what I did yesterday?" I mean … good grief. Doesn’t that strike you as strange? I think it’s strange,' he said.

Scalia also added 'suspects' that he has gay friends - though he insists he doesn't 'hate' gays.

He said he realizes he could end up on the wrong side of history on the gay rights issue, but he doesn't mind - or on other conservative issues he champions.

'You know, for all I know, 50 years from now I may be the Justice Sutherland of the late-twentieth and early-21st century, who’s regarded as: “He was on the losing side of everything, an old fogey, the old view.” And I don’t care,' he said.

Scalia also volunteered that, as a devout Catholic, he believes in the Devil at that the Devil is still at work in the world.

He said the Devil doesn't possess people like he is depicted as doing in the Gospels - he's 'smarter' now.

'What he’s doing now is getting people not to believe in him or in God. He’s much more successful that way,' he said.

When the New York magazine interview expressed surprise at him talking about the Devil, Scalia said he was offended.

'You travel in circles that are so, so removed from mainstream America that you are appalled that anybody would believe in the Devil! Most of mankind has believed in the Devil, for all of history,' he told New York magazine writer Jennifer Senior.


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