Paul Morigi / Getty Images Justice Antonin Scalia being interviewed on FOX News in 2012.

Supreme Court Justice Justice Antonin Scalia, the 77-year-old conservative jurist who has sat on the high court for 27 years, spoke with New York magazine in a lengthy interview published Sunday. Here are 10 of his juiciest quotes.

1. On homosexuality:

“I still think it’s Catholic teaching that it’s wrong. Okay? But I don’t hate the people that engage in it. In my legal opinions, all I’ve said is that I don’t think the Constitution requires the people to adopt one view or the other. … I have friends that I know, or very much suspect, are homosexual. Everybody does.”

2. On Seinfeld:

“I loved Seinfeld. In fact, I got some CDs of Seinfeld. ­Seinfeld was hilarious. Oh, boy. The Nazi soup kitchen? No soup for you!”

3. On politics in Washington:

“It’s a nasty time. It’s a nasty time. When I was first in Washington, and even in my early years on this Court, I used to go to a lot of dinner parties at which there were people from both sides. Democrats, Republicans. Katharine Graham used to have dinner parties that really were quite representative of Washington. It doesn’t happen anymore.”

4. On his own morning reads:

“We just get The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Times. We used to get the Washington Post, but it just… went too far for me. I couldn’t handle it anymore.”

5. On the internet, social media, and culture:

“I am glad that I am not raising kids today. And I’m rather pessimistic that my grandchildren will enjoy the great society that I’ve enjoyed in my lifetime. I really think it’s coarsened. It’s coarsened in so many ways. … One of the things that upsets me about modern society is the coarseness of manners. You can’t go to a movie — or watch a television show for that matter — without hearing the constant use of the F-word — including, you know, ladies using it. People that I know don’t talk like that!”

6. On the devil:

“[Leans in, stage-whispers.] I even believe in the Devil. … Of course! Yeah, he’s a real person. Hey, c’mon, that’s standard Catholic doctrine! Every Catholic believes that.”

7. On why he hasn’t attended the State of the Union address in 15 years:

“It’s childish.”

8. On flaws in the Constitution:

“The one provision that I would amend is the amendment provision. And that was not originally a flaw. But the country has changed so much. With the divergence in size between California and Rhode Island — I figured it out once, I think if you picked the smallest number necessary for a majority in the least ­populous states, something like less than 2 percent of the population can prevent a constitutional amendment.”

9. On the sharp tone of his opinions:



“It never cost me a majority. And you ought to be reluctant to think that any justice of the Supreme Court would make a case come out the other way just to spite Scalia. Nobody would do that.”

10. On his friendship with the liberal Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ginsburg:

“If you have low expectations, you’re not disappointed. When it’s somebody who you think is basically on your side on these ideological controversies, and then that person goes over to the dark side, it does make you feel bad.”