Michael Gerson’s defense of Justice Antonin Scalia in his Feb. 16 op-ed, “Democracy’s principled advocate,” failed to mention where Justice Scalia’s legal opinions conflicted with his philosophical opinions, particularly regarding corporations that are not mentioned in the Constitution.

The whole structure of corporate law, which he extended in Citizens United, is based on the dictum of a conservative activist judge who extended the 14th Amendment rights of former slaves to corporations in 1886. What example of the “living Constitution” is greater than this?

Thornton Parker, Rockingham, Va.

I worked with Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia — the man, not the legend, not the myth, not the caricature. It’s sad when a person of such immense intellectual weight dies, but the way it is being handled is distasteful. Within hours of the man’s death, the political posturing and saber-rattling began.

Seemingly forgotten was that a wife lost her husband, nine children lost their father, 36 grandchildren lost their grandfather, and eight justices lost a close friend and respected colleague. They deserved time to mourn in peace.

Like him or not, like his jurisprudence or not, Justice Scalia tried to adhere to what he believed the Constitution meant and what he felt the framers intended. They would be aghast, and so would he.

Justice Scalia may not have approved of his eventual successor, but he revered the Constitution and the process laid out therein. Honor the man by honoring the document he spent his life protecting. That’s probably what he would want.

Jason Crosby, Centreville

The writer was a marshal’s aide

at the Supreme Court from 2004 to 2006.