Independence means you decide according to the law and the facts. — Antonin Scalia

Independence means you decide according to the law and the facts.

Author: Antonin Scalia

Insight: We usually think of independence as freedom from others—doing what we want, answering to no one. But Scalia's version is trickier and more honest. Real independence, he's saying, isn't about rejecting all constraints. It's about being genuinely free from pressure and bias while you're working within a real system. A judge can't be independent if she's worried about pleasing her boss or her political allies. But she's also not independent if she ignores the actual law written down or the facts in front of her. This matters now because we're suspicious of authority but sometimes naive about what independence actually requires. You see it when people celebrate "thinking for yourself" while actually just following a different crowd. Or when someone claims to be principled while cherry-picking facts that fit what they already want to believe. Real independence is lonelier than either option. It means your answers might disappoint everyone, including yourself. It means sometimes doing the harder thing because the law or the evidence points that way, not because it feels empowering. That's less flashy than rebellion, but it's what actually holds things together.