Justice Scalia Gets Ticketed in Four-Car Fender Bender
Scalia had a trying day yesterday.
During oral arguments on whether to allow a huge class action against Wal-Mart Stores, he complained he was getting “whipsawed” by the arguments of the lawyer for female employees. SCOTUSblog included his comment in its oral argument coverage.
His frustrations were likely greater before arriving at court. During his drive to Washington, Scalia was ticketed, allegedly for rear-ending a car and causing a chain reaction that damaged four cars, including his own, according to the Washington Post blog The Reliable Source and the Los Angeles Times. No one was injured, but Scalia’s car had to be towed, according to the blog. The fine is $90 in all: $70 for the ticket and $20 for a special assessment.
The accident occurred on the George Washington Parkway in an area known for slow rush-hour traffic. The Reliable Source spoke with former NBC reporter Brooke Salkoff, who saw the accident and reported that Scalia was driving a shiny black BMW.
Above the Law noted Scalia’s “minimum contacts.” The blog reports that Scalia has a chambers assistant who can drive him around during the day, but he drives himself to court from his home in McLean, Va.
B. McLeod
Mar 30, 2011 7:29 AM CDT
Wow. Damage to four cars, coming from the back. The shiny, black BMW must have been flat hauling. I expect there will be lots of speeding analogies during oral arguments for awhile (from the bench). Too bad I already had a Peeps photo submitted, ‘cause this would have been a great one.
RNL
Mar 30, 2011 9:56 AM CDT
IMHO, in any pi case that results will reach SCOUS, he will certainly hear the case and join the 5-4 majority setting aside any liability claim as well as all tort claims.
T. Attorney
Mar 30, 2011 10:01 AM CDT
Why is this newsworthy? Just because other “news” sources report this doesn’t mean this professional journal needs to stoop to this.
RNL
Mar 30, 2011 10:07 AM CDT
sure it is. do you think that what’s coming out of the SCOUS since 2001 is law?
Michael
Mar 30, 2011 10:38 AM CDT
In other news the Justices also breathe air regularly.
Seriously .. love them or hate them, they’re human. If anything, it’s refreshing to see senior government officials driving themselves.
Old Lawyer
Mar 30, 2011 11:18 AM CDT
Right on, Michael!
Seriously, Santa Monica, “how the mighty have fallen” from a simple rear-ender during rush hour traffic? Don’t you think that is a just a tad overly dramatic?
Jordan, Esq.
Mar 30, 2011 11:34 AM CDT
I concede this story is a bit below the radar of serious importance. However, you have to admit, reading about this incident serves as a reminder that even a U.S. Supreme Court Justice is not above the potential daily frustrations of life. And even more interesting, subject to a traffic violation.
David
Mar 30, 2011 11:53 AM CDT
Luckily for the hapless Justice Scalia, automobiles had not yet been invented when the Constitution was written, so he will be able to avoid paying a traffic fine and/or civil damages arising from his “fender bender.”
MommyEsq
Mar 30, 2011 12:08 PM CDT
I, for one, would LOVE to see Scalia go into court to protest the ticket. You’ve got to wonder what the traffic judge would make of having a SCOTUS justice in his courtroom as a defendant, and what “strict reading” he would use to argue it.
Seytom
Mar 30, 2011 12:09 PM CDT
Would have loved to have been the officer writing that ticket!
It’s news because of who’s involved and because he damaged 4 cars—-not like he dinged another car while parking. Still, you have to be pretty high-profile to make this news.
RNL
Mar 30, 2011 12:10 PM CDT
Its time we started a Defense Fund. You may contribute at the site below
www.imabovethelaw.com
faddking
Mar 30, 2011 1:03 PM CDT
I wonder if Scalia was talking on his mobile phone at the time of the accident.
Lilly Collette
Mar 30, 2011 3:24 PM CDT
What a shame it didn’t happen in South Carolina. Inside joke there.
B. McLeod
Mar 30, 2011 7:08 PM CDT
Imagine a wild-eyed, black-robed Peep with bushy eyebrows, glaring out of its crunched BMW (just forward of a 30-foot skid mark), with a title such as “Fast Tony.”
B. Lee
Apr 1, 2011 6:38 AM CDT
Come on people - it’s a traffic ticket - ‘infraction’ -
“Officer, did you or anyone here today actually observe the defendant operating and subsequently strike another vehicle?” “Well; no.” - Hearsay rule. Case dismissed.
Bill
Apr 1, 2011 7:47 AM CDT
Hey! An article with Justice Scalia’s name in it!
Cue the Scalia bashing. Too predictable.
Katie
Apr 1, 2011 7:52 AM CDT
This is journal news? What’s next? Where the Justices were spotted eating dinner, what designer they are wearing under their robes?
Heat Seeker
Apr 1, 2011 8:41 AM CDT
RNL says, “sad that he hasn’t been out hunting with Vice recently.”
Wishing for a guy to get shot in the face. Classy. I assume this is part of the “New Civility” your president demanded.
With regard to the rest of the Scalia-haters: Who among you has not had a motor vehicle mishap, or at least a near-mishap?
Why the inclusion of the fact that Scalia was driving a black vehicle? Somebody have an issue with black?
Why the inclusion of the fact that the vehicle was a BMW? Class warfare? A suggestion that if Scalia were driving a Ford, the accident would have been okay?
JME
Apr 1, 2011 8:59 AM CDT
I was tail-end charlie in a 4-car bash-up a few years ago. Hit a patch of ice going through an intersection, while shortly beyond the intersection a car had stopped to turn across traffic into a 7-11. Doesn’t take much. to make a car towable only requires his airbag inflate, which renders the steering wheel inoperable for a time, or to have something puncture the radiator, which sits quite close to the front end, in case you handn’t noticed. Still, you bashers must have your fun.
linovo
Apr 1, 2011 9:03 AM CDT
I find Heat Seeker to be bizarrely defensive.
Heat Seeker, admit it, you’re Scalia, aren’t you? Or more likely, Clarence or Ginny Thomas?
Billy Bones
Apr 1, 2011 9:25 AM CDT
Really? This post’s fascination with everything Justice Scalia does has reached a new low. Give it a rest. He had a fender bender. Is this a professional journal or People Magazine?
Papa Bear
Apr 1, 2011 9:25 AM CDT
#25, Would be nice if members of our government supported the industry of the nation, wouldn’t it? Somehow, I can’t see him driving anything other than a German sedan, though.
Newsworthy? Not everything that appears in a news medium needs to be news. Some stuff can be for entertainment purposes, can’t it?
As far as the cop writing the ticket, does anybody really think he had any idea who he was giving a ticket too. Ninety percent of the people I know wouldn’t recognize the face much less the name and many of those people work in the legal profession.
Tim
Apr 1, 2011 9:42 AM CDT
2 points.
I am not a huge fan of many Justice Scalia’s opinions. But, I don’t wish ill things upon him as a person. Seriously, give the guy a break when he steps off the bench. No one even inquired if he was okay.
And secondly this is not a stupid story. I whole-heartedly agree with #8 Jordan. Despite many people’s frustrations we do have a comparatively good justice system. This story shows that under our system not even one of the most powerful judges is immune from the law. Both historically and concurrently that’s pretty amazing.
Heat Seeker
Apr 1, 2011 9:46 AM CDT
Linovo says, “I find Heat Seeker to be bizarrely defensive.”
I apologize.
You are right.
It is bizarre to be appalled when somebody wishes Scalia would get shot in the face.
Well, at least on this board it is bizarre.
Marty
Apr 1, 2011 10:16 AM CDT
@16
That is a strange view of criminal law—if there are no witnesses to the criminal act, the defendant gets off. Sound like a good rationale to kill all the witnesses. (Have you never of heard of circumstantial evidence, like skidmarks, or seeing the driver get out of the car, or hearing an excited utterance confession?)
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