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Lottery numbers for Monday, Feb. 15, 2016

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Super Student of the Month announced at Kennedy Elementary

<p>Nicholas Remsky wasn&#8217;t really sure what to expect.</p><p>Waiting in a conference room inside the palatial, marble-laden confines of the U.S. Supreme Court building in the nation&#8217;s capital last fall, Remsky and the 30 or so other students around him didn&#8217;t notice the door swing open behind them and the Supreme Court&#8217;s longest-serving member stride into the room.</p><p>&#8220;We all just immediately shot up,&#8221; recalled Remsky, a Misericordia University senior and Pittston native who spent the fall semester last year in a study abroad program at American University in Washington, D.C.</p><p>But Antonin Scalia, the 79-year-old jurist and staunch conservative who died suddenly at a West Texas ranch over the weekend, quickly quashed the formality, Remsky said. Scalia shot his hands into the air and motioned for the students to take their seats, Remsky said.</p><p>Unknown to him nearly up until the moment the associate justice walked into the room and stood behind a podium, the 22-year-old and his classmates spent an hour-and-a-half meeting and fielding questions to Scalia after a professor set up the once-in-a-lifetime forum in November.</p><p>Students are typically kept in the dark about the meeting, so their hopes aren&#8217;t dashed if Scalia has a sudden scheduling conflict that prevents him from showing up, Remsky said. He had already met dozens of U.S. Senators, members of the Congress, FBI and DEA agents as part of the curriculum, but none that possessed the striking aura that surrounded Scalia, he said.</p><p>&#8220;You don&#8217;t get much higher than that in the legal system,&#8221; he said.</p><p>Remsky, who had spent weeks studying Supreme Court cases prior to the meeting, said he was well aware of Scalia&#8217;s vigorously argued and right-leaning opinions, but was immediately disarmed by his humble personality and animated demeanor, he said.</p><p>&#8220;As a guy who was that high up in the legal system, he seemed very personable and did not come off as some people think he is,&#8221; Remsky said, adding that Scalia gestured, paced and bounced about the room like a man in his twenties.</p><p>It came as a sudden shock when Remsky heard the news of Scalia&#8217;s death Saturday, he said.</p><p>&#8220;It was one of those situations where you found out he&#8217;s dead and you said, &#8216;My god, I just met him a few months ago,&#8217;&#8221; he said.</p><p>Scalia was found dead Saturday morning at private residence in the Big Bend area of Texas, after he&#8217;d gone to his room the night before and did not appear for breakfast, a spokesperson with the U.S. Marshals Service in Washington said. The cause of death is not believed to be suspicious.</p><p>A longtime University of Chicago law professor before becoming a judge, Scalia frequently spoke at law schools and to other groups.</p><p>Brian Jakubowski, a recent Misericordia graduate who also attended the forum, said he recalled Scalia as &#8220;incredibly sharp and witty.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;He answered even the simple questions colorfully,&#8221; said Jakubowski, of Washington Township, New Jersey. &#8220;It was clear that he had a lot of points to make and wanted all of us to take his words to heart.&#8221;</p><p>Jakubowski, 22, even had an exchange with Scalia about patents and how the federal circuit&#8217;s rulings are often overturned by the Supreme Court. Scalia shot back about how absurdly complicated patent cases have become, in an answer that was much like his spirited Supreme Court opinions, Jakubowski said.</p><p>Scalia&#8217;s writing seemed irrepressible and entertaining much of the time, but it also could be confrontational. It was a mocking Scalia who in 1993 criticized a decades-old test used by the court to decide whether laws or government policies violated the constitutionally required separation of church and state.</p><p>&#8220;Like some ghoul in a late-night horror movie that repeatedly sits up in its grave and shuffles abroad, after being repeatedly killed and buried, (the test) stalks our &#8230; jurisprudence once again, frightening the little children and school attorneys,&#8221; he wrote.</p><p>Scalia also wrote dissenting opinions on vital issues ranging from gay rights to the death penalty. He was on the losing side in 2005 when the court changed course on the latter issue, declaring it unconstitutional for states to execute killers who were 16 or 17 when they committed their crimes. In 2002, he dissented from the court&#8217;s decision to outlaw executing the mentally disabled.</p><p>But despite what Remsky had read in Scalia&#8217;s opinions, he said he was surprised to see how open he was and the type of sense of humor he had.</p><p>&#8220;I think when people tend to think of conservative values or appeals they think of people relatively boxed into a corner and very stoic,&#8221; Remsky said. &#8220;It was so strange to see this man, as old as he was and revered as he was, to be so open and animated about his career and life.&#8221;</p><p>It later dawned on Remsky that he was likely among the last classes to have an audience with Scalia.</p><p>&#8220;It makes me feel even more honored I got a chance to meet him, but more somber because you&#8217;ll never get a chance to meet again,&#8221; he said.</p><p><em>The Associated Press contributed to this report.</em></p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Joe Dolinsky</p><p>jdolinsky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>INSIDE</strong></p><p>Check page 7A for what&#8217;s next in Washington following Scalia&#8217;s death.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Joe Dolinsky at 570-991-6110 or on Twitter @JoeDolinskyTL</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Fall forum with Justice Antonin Scalia left lasting impact on Misericordia University students