2003 term United States Supreme Court opinions of Antonin Scalia

The table below lists all opinions filed by Associate Justice Antonin Scalia during the 2003 term of the Supreme Court of the United States, which lasted from October 6, 2003 until October 3, 2004. This was the eighteenth term of Scalia's tenure on the Court.
Antonin Scalia 2003 term statistics 9 Majority or Plurality 10 Concurrence 1 Other 12 Dissent 2 Concurrence/dissent Total = 34 Bench opinions = 30 Opinions relating to orders = 4 In-chambers opinions = 0 Unanimous decisions: 2 Most joined by: Thomas (14) Least joined by: Souter (4)

Case	Issue	Joined by
Barnhart v. Thomas 540 U.S. 20 (2003)		Unanimous
McConnell v. Federal Election Commission 540 U.S. 93 (2003)	U.S. Const. amend. I: campaign finance reform
Maryland v. Pringle 540 U.S. 366 (2003)		Thomas
Verizon Communications Inc. v. Law Offices of Curtis V. Trinko LLP 540 U.S. 398 (2004)	Antitrust; telecommunications	Rehnquist, O'Connor, Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer
Unanimous decision, with three concurring justices. Scalia's 6-justice majority ruled that the allegation that an incumbent LEC had breached its duty under the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to share its network with competitors failed to state a claim under § 2 of the Sherman Act.
General Dynamics Land System v. Cline 540 U.S. 581 (2004)	Employment discrimination
Scalia dissented from Souter's 6-3 judgment that the EEOC had incorrectly interpreted the ADEA as prohibiting employers from favoring older over younger workers. Scalia would defer to the EEOC, whose regulation he believed was a reasonable interpretation of a statute that did not unambiguously require a different interpretation.
Olympic Airways v. Husain 540 U.S. 644 (2004)	Warsaw Convention	O'Connor
Scalia dissented from Thomas' 6-2 decision, which he criticized for failing to give any serious consideration to how courts of the partners of the U.S. in the Warsaw Convention had resolved the same legal issues
Locke v. Davey 540 U.S. 712 (2004)	Establishment Clause: state funding of religious education	Thomas
Scalia dissented from Rehnquist's 7-2 decision. Scalia believed that Washington's scholarship program facially discriminated against religion by excluding only theology from the applicable subjects of study, "no less than if it had imposed a special tax." Scalia believed the plaintiff student was not asking for a "special benefit," but instead sought "only equal treatment."
Concrete Works of Colorado, Inc. v. City and County of Denver 540 U.S. 1027 (2003)		Rehnquist
Scalia dissented from the denial of certiorari.
Raymond B. Yates, M.D., P.C. Profit Sharing Plan v. Hendon 541 U.S. 1 (2004)
Scalia believed that the Court "use[d] a sledgehammer to kill a gnat...The Department [of Revenue]'s interpretive conclusion is certainly reasonable (the Court's lengthy analysis says that it is inevitable); it is therefore binding upon us. I would reverse the judgment of the Sixth Circuit on that basis. The Court's approach, which denies many agency interpretations their conclusive effect and thrusts the courts into authoritative judicial interpretation, deprives administrative agencies of two of their principal virtues: (1) the power to resolve statutory questions promptly, and with nationwide effect, and (2) the power (within the reasonable bounds of the text) to change the application of ambiguous laws as time and experience dictate. The Court's approach invites lengthy litigation in all the circuits--the product of which (when finally announced by this Court) is a rule of law that only Congress can change."
Crawford v. Washington 541 U.S. 36 (2004)	Rights of the accused: U.S. Const. amend. VI: Confrontation Clause	Stevens, Kennedy, Souter, Thomas, Ginsburg, Breyer
Scalia's decision, unanimous with two concurring justices, ruled that the use in court of out-of-court statements made to police in an investigative capacity violated the Sixth Amendment right to confront accusing witnesses.
Cheney v. United States District Court 541 U.S. 913 (2004)	Recusal
Scalia declined to recuse himself from a case involving Vice-President Cheney, who had recently provided Scalia with a plane ride to a duck-hunting trip. Scalia remarked that "[i]f it is reasonable to think that a Supreme Court Justice can be bought so cheap, the Nation is in deeper trouble than I had imagined." He also did not believe his friendship with the Vice-President demanded recusal, because Cheney's "personal fortune or personal freedom were not at issue," only his official actions in a "run-of-the-mill legal dispute about an administrative decision."
S. Fla. Water Mgmt. Dist. v. Miccosukee Tribe of Indians 541 U.S. 95 (2004)
Scalia joined the majority's decision in part, and filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part.
Nixon v. Missouri Municipal League 541 U.S. 125 (2004)		Thomas
Scalia concurred in Souter's 6 justice opinion, with an 8-1 judgment.
Engine Mfrs. Ass'n v. S. Coast Air Quality Mgmt. Dist. 541 U.S. 246 (2004)		Rehnquist, Stevens, O'Connor, Kennedy, Thomas, Ginsburg, Breyer
Souter dissented.
Vieth v. Jubelirer 541 U.S. 267 (2004)		Rehnquist, O'Connor, Thomas
Till v. SCS Credit Corp. 541 U.S. 465 (2004)		Rehnquist, O'Connor, Kennedy
Scalia dissented from Stevens' plurality judgment.
Tennessee v. Lane 541 U.S. 509 (2004)	Sovereign immunity: U.S. Const. amend. XI; Americans with Disabilities Act
Scalia dissented from Stevens' 5-4 decision.
Grupo Dataflux v. Atlas Global Group, L.P. 541 U.S. 567 (2004)		Rehnquist, O'Connor, Kennedy, Thomas
Ginsburg dissented.
Thornton v. United States 541 U.S. 615 (2004)		Ginsburg
Scalia concurred in the judgment delivered by Rehnquist.
Republic of Austria v. Altmann 541 U.S. 677 ()	Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act
Scalia joined Stevens' 6-3 decision, and filed a separate concurrence.
City of Littleton v. Z. J. Gifts D-4, L.L.C. 541 U.S. 774 (2004)
Bunting v. Mellen 541 U.S. 1019 (2004)	U.S. Const. amend. I: Establishment Clause	Rehnquist
Scalia dissented from the denial of certiorari.
F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd v. Empagran S. A. 542 U.S. 155 (2004)		Thomas
United States v. Dominguez Benitez 542 U.S. 74 (2004)
Norton v. S. Utah Wilderness Alliance 542 U.S. 55 (2004)		Unanimous
Intel Corp. v. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. 542 U.S. 241 (2004)
Blakely v. Washington 542 U.S. 296 (2004)	Rights of the accused: U.S. Const. amend. VI, right to jury trial	Stevens, Souter, Thomas, Ginsburg
Scalia wrote for five justices invalidating criminal sentencing system in which judges were the finders of fact for aggravating factors. O'Connor, Kennedy, and Breyer filed dissents.
Schriro v. Summerlin 542 U.S. 348 (2004)		Rehnquist, O'Connor, Kennedy, Thomas
Breyer dissented.
Tennard v. Dretke 542 U.S. 274 (2004)
Scalia filed one of three dissents.
Rasul v. Bush 542 U.S. 466 (2004)		Rehnquist, Thomas
Hamdi v. Rumsfeld 542 U.S. 507 (2004)	Rights of the accused: U.S. Const. amend. V, habeas corpus	Stevens
Scalia wrote that if habeas corpus has not been suspended by Congress, U.S. citizens must be tried in ordinary criminal courts. He believed the plurality was misguided in attempting to fashion alternative procedures that might comply with due process, because the role of the Court was simply to declare that the procedures at issue were unconstitutional.
Ashcroft v. ACLU 542 U.S. 656 (2004)
Scalia dissented from Kennedy's 5-justice opinion.
Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain 542 U.S. 692 (2004)		Rehnquist, Thomas
Scalia concurred in part and concurred in the judgment.
Cox v. Larios 542 U.S. 947 (2004)	Legislative redistricting
Scalia dissented from the Court's summary affirmance.

References

• "2003 Term Opinions of the Court". Supreme Court of the United States. Retrieved 2010-07-07.
• "2003 Term Opinions Relating to Orders". Supreme Court of the United States. Archived from the original on 2005-03-09. Retrieved 2010-07-07.
• "2003 Term In-Chambers Opinions". Supreme Court of the United States. Archived from the original on 2005-02-14. Retrieved 2010-07-07.