Welcome to the Tech Policy Podcast, your source for policy rants and raves, but mostly

rants from Tech Freedom, your Washington, D.C. advocate for the freedom to tinker and innovate.

I'm Evan Swartzchstrauber, your host. On today's show, what does the passing of Supreme Court

Justice Antonin Scalia

have to do with net neutrality? And what will it mean for the outcome of the litigation over the FCC's

internet regulations? Joining me in our DC studio to discuss this is someone who will never be confirmed

to the Supreme Court, President of Tech Freedom, Baron Soka.

Baron, thank you for joining me.

Thanks, Evan.

So last Saturday, Supreme Court Justice Scalia passed away, and it sparked a flurry of media coverage,

including thoughtful tributes, partisan jabs, and speculation about the future.

Now, Baron, before we delve into the issue of net neutrality, you are a lawyer.

You're a believer in the Constitution. What did Justice Scalia mean to you?

Well, I didn't always agree with them. Justice Scalia, I have to say, was not in substantive terms.

My favorite justice on the court, I could pick a number of his decisions that I would

disagree with pretty strongly, most notably his decision in the Rache case about medical

marijuana, where he and Justice Thomas parted ways very sharply. Justice Thomas upheld the

rights of states to decide on medical marijuana for themselves. Justice Scalia did not,

and was criticized by many, including myself,

as really betraying the originalism that he purported to implement. But it must be said, and I think

anybody who disagrees with him about any number of things, whether it's 5% of what he said or 100%

of what he said, would have to acknowledge that he was

...