The late Antonin Scalia dismissed the Voting Rights Act as a “racial entitlement” — and that was in public, during Supreme Court oral argument. So it’s unsurprising, if still shocking, to be reminded this week that his writing to fellow justices was consistent with his public bigotry.
The reminder comes courtesy of the late Justice John Paul Stevens and some of his papers that were released this week. They include internal court writings regarding the Bush v. Gore ruling that handed the presidency to the Republican in 2000.
They show that, although Scalia’s side was victorious in the bitterly divided case, he still objected to a draft of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dissent that included what he called “the Al Sharpton footnote,” in which she referred to Black people being disenfranchised. Sharpton, of course, as a Black civil rights activist (and MSNBC host), has long been a conservative target.
Indeed, Scalia’s remark seems more like something one might hear on Fox News than in Supreme Court correspondence.
So it’s fitting that this reminder of the Ronald Reagan appointee’s hissy fit coincides with The New York Times reporting on a racist text message from Tucker Carlson that he sent following the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021.
In his text, Carlson reportedly expressed disappointment in his fellow white men for “jumping” an “Antifa kid,” because that’s “not how white men fight.”
The Times said the content of the text message, which has not been verified by NBC News or MSNBC, was disclosed to the outlet in interviews with several people close to the recent Dominion Voting Systems defamation lawsuit against Fox. A representative for Carlson told the Times he had no comment.
As with Scalia, Tucker’s text is in line with the racist things he has said publicly. And there’s a throughline between Scalia’s and Carlson’s communications. They arise against the backdrop of ongoing fights for democracy, with Carlson being fired from the network in the wake of the historic Dominion suit. Given Carlson’s white nationalism that he spouted on television, he might agree with Scalia about what counts as a “racial entitlement.” Subscribe to the Deadline: Legal Blog newsletter for weekly updates on the top legal stories, including news from the Supreme Court, the Donald Trump investigations and more.
Jordan Rubin is the Deadline: Legal Blog writer. He was a prosecutor for the New York County District Attorney’s Office in Manhattan and is the author of “Bizarro," a book about the secret war on synthetic drugs. Before he joined MS NOW, he was a legal reporter for Bloomberg Law.
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