LaRouche Heckler at Scalia AEI Speech: Update

The AP story on the Scalia AEI Speech heckling incident was even more misleading than first thought.

After the man left, Scalia answered questions for about 15 minutes but repeatedly declined to engage anyone who asked questions, even of an apparently friendly nature, that he felt were not related to his topic – the use of foreign law by U.S. courts.

“I feel really bad about it,” said Veronique Rodman, an AEI spokeswoman. “There’s no excuse for rudeness.”

I just talked to Ms. Rodman on the phone and, as suspected, she was referring to the outrageous conduct of the protesters, not Scalia. Indeed, she says, “Scalia was a saint” and the protestors lied to get into the event, claiming that they were George Washington University law students.

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. For what it is worth, that’s how I understood the quote when I read it this morning. I never thought she was referring to anyone/thing other than the heckler.

  2. I ALSO never thought she was referring to anyone/thing other than the heckler.

    Feeling a bit sensitive about the press these days are we?

  3. Kustie the Klown says:

    I think the poor placement and ill-defined context of Ms. Rodman’s quote are simply the result of poor writing by the AP reporter.

    Obviously, the AEI spokesperson would not be taking a huge crap on Justice Scalia after he had just graced AEI with his (rare) presence.

    I am sure that in the left fever swamps, however, most would think she is referring to Scalia; such is the level of knee-jerk hatred and ignorance over there.

  4. Joe says:

    I saw a video of the event and as an observer I could tell they were no more law students than I am the Shaw Of Iran (which incidently I’m not). I’m sure Justice Scalia was being OVERLY gracious to them. They deserved a bit more chewing if you ask me.

  5. Jason says:

    Clearly a shameful embarrassment to the university.

    However, as a college student myself (double major: political science & history), IÂ’m sorry to say that this is really not much of a surprise.

    Literally ANY ‘conservative’ academic who comes and speaks at a university campus can/should generally expect this exact same kind of experience.

    We conservative students never behave this way when a liberal is invited to speak at the college, but our brat liberal peers have shown time and time again that they simply CANNOT conduct themselves as adults when the reverse is the case.

    When the speaker is finished and decides to open things up for a little Q&A, students to who disagree with that speaker ideologically have a right to pose as tough of questions as they wish. But there should also be a certain degree of respectfulness (like the speaker or not) that should come along as well, especially for a Supreme Court Justice.

    What I saw here was a complete disgrace. Most of the students “questions” clearly showed that the vast majority of the kids in the audience were too stupid to even realize what branch of government this man is in.