Rulings from the press box

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia expects too much of journalists. They may think they know how to read a court opinion, but not without a political, class struggle lens.

Scalia took the NY Times to task for some of their recent coverage:

Scalia said news organizations often fail to focus on the text of the laws the court interprets, citing accounts of last month's 8-1 decision that made it harder for consumers to sue makers of federally approved medical devices.

He singled out for criticism a New York Times editorial on the case headlined "No Recourse for the Injured."

The media often make it appear as though the court is reaching policy judgments on its own rather than basing its decisions on the text of the law at issue in a case, Scalia said.

That headline made me choke. And I've seen a few stupid ones.