Justice Scalia, how could you?

Please see my original post here.

Excuse me, Justice Antonin Scalia?

The WSJ notes here that the Supreme Court justices granted interviews to C-SPAN reporters (links and transcripts are not yet available). While the interviews, filmed as part of the network's "Supreme Court Week," have not yet been aired, some pieces of transcripts have made it out.

The WSJ Blog quotes Scalia as follows:

Well, you know, two chiefs ago, Chief Justice Burger, used to complain about the low quality of counsel. I used to have just the opposite reaction. I used to be disappointed that so many of the best minds in the country were being devoted to this enterprise.

I mean there’d be a, you know, a defense or public defender from Podunk, you know, and this woman is really brilliant, you know. Why isn’t she out inventing the automobile or, you know, doing something productive for this society?

I mean lawyers, after all, don’t produce anything. They enable other people to produce and to go on with their lives efficiently and in an atmosphere of freedom. That’s important, but it doesn’t put food on the table and there have to be other people who are doing that. And I worry that we are devoting too many of our very best minds to this enterprise.

And they appear here in the Court, I mean, even the ones who will only argue here once and will never come again. I’m usually impressed with how good they are. Sometimes you get one who’s not so good. But, no, by and large I don’t have any complaint about the quality of counsel, except maybe we’re wasting some of our best minds.

Professor Chris Lund notes on PrawfsBlawg that "I was...amused by the amount of "you knows" in Justice Scalia's remarks -- he talks like an ordinary guy."

Ok, but maybe there are other things we should be talking about here. Like: Justice Scalia, how could you say such a thing?

The Supreme Court interprets the laws of the United States. We're talking about the UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION. Those justices determine our rights and responsibilities; their rulings address privacy, due process, rights against discrimination, voting rights, and dozens or hundreds or thousands of other rights afforded United States citizens. If a lawyer is bright enough to get a case before the Supreme Court and sharp enough to argue the case there, what better use of that person's time can we possibly imagine? Someone else will invent the automobile; this person's calling is the law.

Justice Scalia, you have your faults but you are among the best minds in our country. How can you so denounce those who share your profession?