--- title: Antonin Scalia Death: His Most Provocative Quotes description: Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia passed away Saturday at the age of 79 but he left behind a legacy of provocative opinions. canonical: https://time.com/4220735/antonin-scalia-dead-quotes-opinions/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-14T02:27:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:03:56.356Z article:section: Politics og:title: These Are Some of Justice Scalia's Most Colorful Quotes og:description: He left behind a legacy of provocative opinions og:url: https://time.com/4220735/antonin-scalia-dead-quotes-opinions/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7536e09a080bea50/69887d970b72e342f26e822f/antonin-scalia-dead-supreme-court-justice-07.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Scalia and Breyer Testify on Role of Judges on Capitol Hill og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: These Are Some of Justice Scalia's Most Colorful Quotes twitter:description: He left behind a legacy of provocative opinions twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7536e09a080bea50/69887d970b72e342f26e822f/antonin-scalia-dead-supreme-court-justice-07.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # These Are Some of Justice Scalia's Most Colorful Quotes by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Feb 14, 2016 2:27 AM UTC  This Oct. 5, 2011 photo shows Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on Capitol Hill in Washington. This Oct. 5, 2011 photo shows Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on Capitol Hill in Washington.Jim Lo Scalzo—EPA by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Feb 14, 2016 2:27 AM UTC Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia [died](http://time.com/4220662/justice-antonin-scalia-dead-at-79/) Saturday at the age of 79, leaving behind a long list of provocative opinions and colorful quotes. The influential conservative had [a 30-year legacy](http://time.com/4220692/antonin-scalia-biography/) on the Supreme Court. Scalia wrote his decisions with an intellect and wit that many applauded, and they provide an insightful read into Scalia’s legal logic. Below are some of the most colorful quotes from Justice Scalia’s time on the Supreme Court. **From his opinion on the** [**Affordable Care Act**](http://time.com/3936520/obamacare-victory-scalia-failure/) --- > “” --- **From his opinion on** [**Gay Marriage**](http://time.com/3939084/stephen-colbert-scalia-late-show/) --- > “” --- **On** [**law making**](http://openjurist.org/749/f2d/50/community-nutrition-institute-v-r-block) --- > “” --- **On the 2000 Election and** [**Bush V. Gore**](http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/07/18/scalia%5Fon%5Fbush%5Fv%5Fgore%5Fget%5Fover%5Fit.html) --- > “” --- **On** [**Affirmative Action**](http://openscholarship.wustl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2507&context=law%5Flawreview) --- > “” --- **From a 1995 speech at Stanford University** --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4220735/antonin-scalia-dead-quotes-opinions/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4220735/antonin-scalia-dead-quotes-opinions/"},"headline":"These Are Some of Justice Scalia's Most Colorful Quotes","datePublished":"2016-02-14T02:27:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:03:56.356Z","description":"Justice Antonin Scalia left behind a legacy of provocative opinions","url":"https://time.com/4220735/antonin-scalia-dead-quotes-opinions/","keywords":["Supreme Court","Antonin Scalia topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7536e09a080bea50/69887d970b72e342f26e822f/antonin-scalia-dead-supreme-court-justice-07.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7536e09a080bea50/69887d970b72e342f26e822f/antonin-scalia-dead-supreme-court-justice-07.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Scalia and Breyer Testify on Role of Judges on Capitol Hill","caption":"This Oct. 5, 2011 photo shows Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on Capitol Hill in Washington.","creditText":"Jim Lo Scalzo—EPA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/supreme-court/","name":"Supreme Court"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4220735/antonin-scalia-dead-quotes-opinions/","name":"These Are Some of Justice Scalia's Most Colorful Quotes"}}]}] ```