A look back at Justice Scalia's PGA Tour Inc. v. Martin dissenting opinion

[nevets88]

It was big news then, but I only followed it casually. SCOTUS ruled in Casey's favor 7-2, iirc, Casey spent one year on the PGA Tour, was on the leaderboard in a US Open briefly and played in it again in 2012. But enough about Casey, Scalia references Vonnegut in his dissent. Agree or disagree with his rulings, his dissent is a funny read.

http://golfweek.com/news/2016/feb/13/golf-justice-antonin-scalia-supreme-court-dead/

http://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/15/sports/golf-just-level-playing-field-casey-martin-says-he-needs-cart-play-pga-says-no.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/18/sports/golf-supreme-court-hears-the-casey-martin-case.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/30/sports/golf-disabled-golfer-may-use-a-cart-on-the-pga-tour-justices-affirm.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PGA_Tour,_Inc._v._Martin

http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/532/661.html

Quote

If one assumes, however, that the PGA TOUR has some legal obligation to play classic, Platonic golf—and if one assumes the correctness of all the other wrong turns the Court has made to get to this point—then we Justices must confront what is indeed an awesome responsibility. It has been rendered the solemn duty of the Supreme Court of the United States, laid upon it by Congress in pursuance of the Federal Government’s power '[t]o regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States,' to decide What Is Golf. I am sure that the Framers of the Constitution, aware of the 1457 edict of King James II of Scotland prohibiting golf because it interfered with the practice of archery, fully expected that sooner or later the paths of golf and government, the law and the links, would once again cross, and that the judges of this august Court would some day have to wrestle with that age-old jurisprudential question, for which their years of study in the law have so well prepared them: Is someone riding around a golf course from shot to shot really a golfer? The answer, we learn, is yes. The Court ultimately concludes, and it will henceforth be the Law of the Land, that walking is not a ‘fundamental' aspect of golf.”

 

[boogielicious]

32 minutes ago, nevets88 said:

It was big news then, but I only followed it casually. SCOTUS ruled in Casey's favor 7-2, iirc, Casey spent on year on the PGA Tour, was on the leaderboard in a US Open briefly and played in it again in 2012. But enough about Casey, Scalia references Vonnegut in his dissent. Agree or disagree with his rulings, his dissent is a funny read.

http://golfweek.com/news/2016/feb/13/golf-justice-antonin-scalia-supreme-court-dead/

http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/532/661.html

 

Too bad they didn't rule on what constitutes slow play.

[Mr. Desmond]

Scalia was a humorous, brilliant, and gregarious man, whatever one thinks of his opinions.

Even in the Martin decision, you can see humor and irony, and frustration.

(And if one recalls, although an idealogue, Scalia was confirmed unanimously)

[Patch]

"Walking is not a fundamental aspect of golf". Pretty sure I don't agree with tht remark. 

[Fourputt]

4 minutes ago, Patch said:

"Walking is not a fundamental aspect of golf". Pretty sure I don't agree with tht remark. 

Why would you say that?  While some ability to get around the greens is needed, for the most part I can do most of my traveling using a riding cart.  We even had paraplegics play at Foothills using our ADA carts which allowed them to drive on the greens to putt.  The ADA carts can't access every point on a golf course, but they are still a strong argument against your contention that walking is fundamental.  Walking may be traditional, but it isn't fundamental.

I agree that Scalia's opinion was quite tongue in cheek, and I always disagreed with their decision on the Martin case, but I don't believe that walking the entire course is a fundamental of amateur golf today.

[Golfingdad]

15 minutes ago, Patch said:

"Walking is not a fundamental aspect of golf". Pretty sure I don't agree with tht remark. 

Neither did Scalia.

[Lihu]

20 minutes ago, Patch said:

"Walking is not a fundamental aspect of golf". Pretty sure I don't agree with tht remark. 

I always thought that swinging a club is a fundamental part of golf. Doesn't matter how you get to the ball.

[newtogolf]

44 minutes ago, Mr. Desmond said:

Scalia was a humorous, brilliant, and gregarious man, whatever one thinks of his opinions.

Even in the Martin decision, you can see humor and irony, and frustration.

(And if one recalls, although an idealogue, Scalia was confirmed unanimously)

I agree, we all lost one of the deepest legal minds of our time and a great man.