After Justice Scalia's death, I mourned not only his passing, but the fact that we would no longer have any new Scalia writings. To this day, no one on the Court can hold a candle to Scalia's writing. Thankfully, the release of Justice Stevens's papers has given us new insights into Scalia's prime-time on the Court. CNN shared a four-page memo that Scalia wrote to the conference concerning Clinton v. Jones. This important case held that President Clinton was not immune from civil litigation for acts that arose before he became president. Justice Stevens wrote the majority opinion for a unanimous Court.
Clinton v. Jones was argued on January 13, 1997. The memorandum was circulated on April 4, 1997. If I had to guess, Justice Stevens's draft majority opinion was circulated at some point in March. CNN did not share the draft opinion, though the structure seems to have changed. Scalia suggests that the opinion concluded with Part VI. But the published opinion has eight parts. It is possible to compare Scalia's suggested edits, with the final version, to see whether Stevens adopted those revisions. Here are nine highlights.
First, Scalia objected to the final paragraph of the introductory paragraph:
