A search is a search, even if it happens to disclose nothing but the bottom of a turntable.

Meaning of the quote

This quote means that even if a search doesn't find what you're looking for, it's still important to do the search. Even if all you find is the bottom of a turntable, the search itself is still valuable. It's about not giving up just because the results aren't what you expected.

About Antonin Scalia

Antonin Scalia was an influential American jurist who served as a Supreme Court justice from 1986 until his death in 2016. He was known for his conservative jurisprudence and played a key role in the originalist and textualist movements in American law. Scalia received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2018, and a law school was named after him.

More about the author

More quotes from Antonin Scalia

Why in the world would you have it interpreted by nine lawyers?

Antonin Scalia

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1986 to 2016

If you think aficionados of a living Constitution want to bring you flexibility, think again. You think the death penalty is a good idea? Persuade your fellow citizens to adopt it. You want a right to abortion? Persuade your fellow citizens and enact it. That’s flexibility.

Antonin Scalia

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1986 to 2016

A law can be both economic folly and constitutional.

Antonin Scalia

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1986 to 2016

In a big family the first child is kind of like the first pancake. If it’s not perfect, that’s okay, there are a lot more coming along.

Antonin Scalia

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1986 to 2016

A journalistic purpose could be someone with a Xerox machine in a basement.

Antonin Scalia

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1986 to 2016

There is nothing new in the realization that the Constitution sometimes insulates the criminality of a few in order to protect the privacy of us all.

Antonin Scalia

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1986 to 2016

You could have 50 different states having 50 different regulations… until they were all litigated out.

Antonin Scalia

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1986 to 2016

What is a moderate interpretation of the text? Halfway between what it really means and what you’d like it to mean?

Antonin Scalia

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1986 to 2016

The Court today completes the process of converting Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 from a guarantee that race or sex will not be the basis for often will.

Antonin Scalia

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1986 to 2016

A search is a search, even if it happens to disclose nothing but the bottom of a turntable.

Antonin Scalia

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1986 to 2016

If we’re picking people to draw out of their own conscience and experience a ‘new’ Constitution, we should not look principally for good lawyers. We should look to people who agree with us. When we are in that mode, you realize we have rendered the Constitution useless.

Antonin Scalia

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1986 to 2016

Why can’t the state accede to the public’s wishes?

Antonin Scalia

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1986 to 2016