(L-r) USC Law School Dean Rob Wilcox, U. S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), U.S. Supreme Court associate justice Stephen Breyer, moderator William Traxler (chief judge of the federal 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia and a USC Law alumnus), U. S. Supreme Court associate justice Antonin Scalia gather to speak to trainees at USC School of Law. Two U. S. Supreme Court associate justices came to Columbia Friday, January 20, to speak to attorney trainees at the USC School of Law. Justices Antonin Scalia and Stephen Breyer played off each other, as Scalia took the conservative position, and Breyer took the liberalto moderate.

Senator Graham spoke introductory remarks to the packed auditorium, professing fascination with politics but a devoted love of the law. Graham is credited with bring the two U.S. Supreme Court associate justices to town for the USC presentation on Friday and then the convention of the S.C. Bar on Saturday.

Scalia was born in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1936. He and his wife Maureen have nine children. Scalia earned his A.B. at Georgetown University and the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School. He practiced law privately in Cleveland for six years. He taught law at the University of Virginia, the University of Chicago, Georgetown University, and Stanford University. He was appointed Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1982. President Ronald Reagan appointed Scalia to the U.S. Supreme Court, and he took his seat in September 1986.

Breyer was born in San Francisco, California, in 1936. His wife Joanna and he have three children. His A.B. is from Stanford University, and he has a B.A. from Magdalen College, Oxford, and he is also a graduate of Harvard Law School. He taught law at Harvard, 1967-1994, and also at the College of Law, Sydney, Australia, and the University of Rome. He was the Chief Judge for the U. S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. President Clinton nominated him to the U.S. Supreme Court, and he took his seat in August 1994.

Most laws in the country, Scalia said, are state laws, maybe as many as 80 percent. But it’s the job of the Supreme Court to assure uniformity in the law.

Breyer said every year about 80,000-100,000 cases come into the federal system, and about 8,000 knock on the Supreme Court’s doors, but only 80 actually get their day in the Supreme Court.

Scalia, the conservative, said he hardly ever approaches the law from either a conservative or a liberal point of view. Although he does describe himself as an originalist, taking the original language of the Constitution as a guide.

The problem with an originalist, Breyer reminded the audience, is the risk of strict interpretations - allowing flogging, for instance. The death penalty was originally meant for felonies, not just murder, while lessor punishment fit misdemeanors.

Most decisions in the U.S., Scalia observed, are by its 310 million people looking after themselves.