Explores the neglected art of statutory interpretation. This book argues that it is incompatible with democratic government to allow the meaning of a statute to be determined by what the judges think the lawgivers meant rather than by what the legislature actually promulgated.

Preface vii Common-Law Courts in a Civil-Law System: The Role of United States Federal Courts in Interpreting the Constitution and Laws Antonin Scalia 3 Comment Gordon S. Wood 49 Comment Laurence H. Tribe 65 Comment Mary Ann Glendon 95 Comment Ronald Dworkin 115 Response Antonin Scalia 129 Contributors 151 Index 153

"[We] are lucky to have, in book form, an essay on legal interpretation by Justice Scalia...[He] projects a sanguine humor through a robust prose enlivened by sly sallies against what he sees as the gaps in logic of the opposing camp. He is anything but the angry justice of popular myth."--John O. McGinnis, Wall Street Journal "[T]he Supreme Court's highest-profile conservative ... Suggest[s] we ought to junk judicial review as we have known it... The reason, I think, is that Scalia objects not merely to certain decisions of this or prior Courts but to judicial review, American-style, in its entirety. His central aim as a jurist has been to get the federal courts out of the business of adjudicating individual rights."--Garrett Epps, The Nation "As this ... book makes clear, Scalia deserves respect for having redefined the mainstream of constitutional discourse, and in a substantially useful way."--Jeffrey Rosen, New Republic "Justice Scalia merits praise for the clarity with which he writes and for the careful thought that underlies his writing."--Walter Barthold, New York Law Journal "Love him or hate him (it's hard to imagine a neutral opinion), Scalia is a brilliant and engaging writer. This tantalizing short debate with his equally brilliant critics shows just how radical our most conservative justice is."--Kathleen Kahn, San Francisco Chronicle "Justice Scalia's well-written and patiently explained theory, augmented and challenged by the commentaries of four scholars, will fascinate and enlighten even those readers, and they are many, whom it does not convince... Justice Scalia merits praise for the clarity with which he writes and for the careful thought that underlies his writing."--Walter Barthold, The Lawyer's Bookshelf "Antonin Scalia... confronts four high-powered critics in a short book for the general public--perhaps the first time a sitting justice of the Supreme Court has done so. This is a book for anyone with a serious interest in law and the Constitution."--Carl M. Dibble, Detroit News "As the most intellectually consistent and stylistically gifted member of the Supreme Court, Scalia has never hidden his enthusiasm for the American tradition of mistrusting courts and lawyers. The basics of his judicial philosophy are now usefully collated into this volume... Scalia's arguments have shaped the debate in our time; he has gone a long way toward changing how judges interpret the letter of the law."--David Franklin, Slate "[Scalia] is formidably persuasive, by turns seductive, fierce, funny, charming--and always brilliant."--Paul Reidinger, American Bar Association Journal "A Matter of Interpretation demonstrates both the attraction of Scalia's 'textualist' theory and his qualities as a judicial statesman... [His] elegant essay, the most concise and accessible presentation of his views, argues eloquently that judicial authority can only be based on the statutory or constitutional text."--Michael Greve, Reason "An essential volume."--Noah Feldman, Bloomberg View