Justice Antonin Scalia wrote the opinion of the Court in four of the five cases below, on free exercise of religion, the Fourth Amendment, the Confrontation Clause and the Second Amendment. The fifth is a dissent, in the independent counsel case, from 1988. The opinions run from 1988 to 2008.
A dissent about the separation of powers
Morrison v. Olson (1988), decided June 29, 1988. The case asked whether the independent counsel provisions of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 were constitutional. The Court upheld them, and Chief Justice Rehnquist wrote for the Court. Scalia was the lone dissenter. He wrote that "frequently an issue of this sort will come before the Court clad, so to speak, in sheep's clothing," when its potential to change the balance of power "must be discerned by a careful and perceptive analysis. But this wolf comes as a wolf."
Religion and a neutral law
Employment Division v. Smith (1990), decided April 17, 1990. Smith and Black were fired by a private drug rehabilitation organization because they ingested peyote for sacramental purposes at a ceremony of their Native American Church, and their applications for unemployment compensation were denied. Scalia, for the Court, held that the Free Exercise Clause permits the State to prohibit sacramental peyote use and thus to deny unemployment benefits to people discharged for it. The Court explained that its earlier cases barring application of a "neutral, generally applicable law" to religiously motivated action involved not the Free Exercise Clause alone, but that Clause in conjunction with other constitutional protections.
Searches and technology
Kyllo v. United States (2001), decided June 11, 2001. Agents suspected that marijuana was being grown in Kyllo's home, and used a thermal-imaging device to scan it to see whether the heat from the house was consistent with high-intensity lamps. Scalia held that where the Government uses a device that is not in general public use to explore details of a private home that would previously have been unknowable without physical intrusion, the surveillance is a Fourth Amendment "search." "We have said that the Fourth Amendment draws 'a firm line at the entrance to the house,'" he wrote. "That line, we think, must be not only firm but also bright."
Testifying in person
Crawford v. Washington (2004), decided March 8, 2004. Michael Crawford was tried for assault and attempted murder, and the State played a recording of his wife Sylvia's statement to police. She did not testify because of Washington's marital privilege. Scalia held that where testimonial statements are at issue, "the only indicium of reliability sufficient to satisfy constitutional demands is confrontation." The Court overruled Ohio v. Roberts (1980).
The Second Amendment
District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), decided June 26, 2008. District of Columbia law banned handgun possession by making it a crime to carry an unregistered firearm and prohibiting the registration of handguns. Scalia, for the Court, held that "the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home."
What the five opinions show
In the four opinions for the Court he decided questions about a peyote ceremony, a thermal imager, a recorded police interview and a handgun ban. Crawford overruled an earlier decision. The dissent in Morrison is the one where he wrote alone.
Sources
- Morrison v. Olson (1988), 487 U.S. 654: Library of Congress, U.S. Reports
- Employment Division v. Smith (1990), 494 U.S. 872: Library of Congress, U.S. Reports
- Kyllo v. United States (2001), 533 U.S. 27: Library of Congress, U.S. Reports
- Crawford v. Washington (2004), 541 U.S. 36: Library of Congress, U.S. Reports
- Ohio v. Roberts (1980), 448 U.S. 56: Library of Congress, U.S. Reports
- District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), 554 U.S. 570: Library of Congress, U.S. Reports
Updated November 2026.
This post was rewritten with AI (Claude) and reviewed by an editor before publication.
