Fat Tony Scalia blames havoc wreaked by Citizens United decision on everyone but himself

Jeffrey Collins, writing in the Huffington Post, covered Scalia's remarks at a presen­ta­tion to the South Carolina Bar in Columbia.

Scalia was asked about the two-year-old, 5-4 decision letting outside groups take unlimited contributions as long as they don't directly coordinate with the candidate. Scalia & Co.'s toothless stipulation was hilariously exposed for the sham that it is by a satirical piece by South Carolina native Stephen Colbert.

Justice Stephen Breyer, on the losing side of "Citizens United, said, "By nature, when a decision isn't unanimous, somebody is making a mistake... There are real problems when people want to spend lots of money on a candidate ... they'll drown out the people who don't have a lot of money."

Money flooding political races was a consequence predicted as soon as the decision was handed down in January 2010. And so far, it's true. Super PACs have raised more than $30 million just three races into the 2012 presidential race, according to the website opensecrets.org, run by The Center for Responsive Politics. TV advertising alone in South Carolina, which is voting Saturday, is estimated at $12 million, or nearly $27 per voter when calculated using the 2008 Republican primary turnout numbers.

"I miss seeing car ads," said U.S. Sen. Linsey Graham, R-S.C.

"People are not stupid. If they don't like it, they'll shut it off," said Scalia, adding, "If the system seems crazy to you, don't blame it on the court."

The 5-4 decision in which Scalia prevailed overturned controls on political contributions by corporations in effect since the Teddy Roosevelt presidency.

"The judge paused for a second, then looked directly into my lens and said, 'To my critics, I say, 'Vaffanculo,' [Italian for F*ck you in the ass] punctuating the comment by flicking his right hand out from under his chin, Smith said.
—Peter J. Smith, Boston University photojournalism professor and freelance photographer, describing a gesture and accompanying obscenity made and uttered by Scalia in March of 2006 inside Boston's Cathedral of the Holy Cross. When Peter Smith released the photo, he was fired by Antonio Enrique, the editor of the Archdiocese of Boston's newspaper. Enrique, a truly nasty homophobe of the first magnitude, frequently uses The Pilot for gratuitous, dubious and unprovoked attacks on gay people.