Justice Scalia: 'It's a Nasty Time' in Nation's Capital

Conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia says it's getting "nasty" in the nation's capital because Democrats and Republicans don't socialize with each other anymore — much less legislate together.

"It’s a nasty time," Scalia said in a wide-ranging interview with New York magazine's Jennifer Senior.

"When I was first in Washington and even in my early years on this court, I used to go to a lot of dinner parties at which there were people from both sides. Democrats, Republicans . . . It doesn’t happen anymore.”

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Asked when he last attended an event with plenty of people from both sides of the aisle, Scalia said, "Geez, I can’t even remember. It’s been a long time."

Scalia observed that it's different on the Supreme Court, where justices of all political stripes get along with one other. For example, he's developed a close friendship with liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Scalia also revealed that he and his wife don't read The Washington Post anymore, saying they canceled their subscription to the "slanted" publication.

"It just ... went too far for me. I couldn't handle it anymore, he said."

"It was the treatment of almost any conservative issue. It was slanted and often nasty. And you know, why should I get upset every morning?"

"I don’t think I’m the only one," Scalia continued. "I think they lost subscriptions partly because they became so shrilly, shrilly liberal."

He said he reads the conservative Wall Street Journal and the conservative Washington Times. The liberal Washington Post is out, he said, because it has turned "slanted and nasty" in his view, which is why he thinks it's losing circulation.
"I think they lost subscriptions partly because they became so shrilly liberal," he said.

Scalia admitted that he gets a good dose of his news the old-fashioned way — from the radio, usually while driving to the court in the mornings. He even listens now and then to National Public Radio, but said he prefers talk radio.

“You know who my favorite is?” he said. “My good friend Bill Bennett. He’s off the air by the time I’m driving in, but I listen to him sometimes when I’m shaving. He has a wonderful talk show. It’s very thoughtful. He has good callers. I think they keep off stupid people."

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