In one of the cases, Scalia said “it is time to call a halt” to imprecisely interpreting vague acts of Congress, railing against “fuzzy, leave-the-details-to-be-sorted-out-by-the-courts” legislation enacted by members of Congress who don’t “have the time (or perhaps the votes) to grapple with the nitty-gritty.”
Scalia’s high dudgeon was on display in two decisions: Sykes v. United States, the latest in a series of rulings divining the meaning of the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), and DePierre v. United States, another statutory interpretation case, this one involving the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986.
