Media access limited during Scalia’s speeches By Antoinette Konz

While U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia spoke to high school students on Wednesday about the importance of protecting the rights provided by the Constitution, the recording devices of two reporters were confiscated by a federal marshal.

”You may wonder what makes our Constitution so special. I am here to persuade you that our Constitution is something extraordinary, something to revere,” Scalia told students at Presbyterian Christian High School in Hattiesburg.

During Scalia’s speech at the high school, U.S. Marshal Melanie Rube demanded that a reporter with The Associated Press erase a tape recording of the justice’s remarks. Rube also took a tape recording made by a reporter with the Hattiesburg American.

Rube said Scalia had asked that his appearance not be recorded. But there was no prior announcement that electronic recordings of Scalia’s speech were prohibited.

At an earlier appearance at William Carey College, Scalia talked about the religion clauses contained in the Constitution. At a reception honoring the Supreme Court justice, television reporters with WDAM-Channel 7 were told by Scalia to leave and newspaper photographers were initially not allowed to take photographs. …

Scalia, named to the high court by President Ronald Reagan in 1986, has long barred television cameras from his speeches, but does not always forbid newspaper photographers and tape recorders. …

Last year, Scalia was criticized for refusing to allow television and radio coverage of an event in Ohio in which he received an award for supporting free speech.

[Originally published Thursday, April 8, 2004]

Scalia continues to show his hypocrisy and contempt for real freedom. If Bush is elected in November, Scalia will become the Chief Justice of the United States and will poison the land for a generation. Impeach Scalia! mjh

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