Appearing today on Fox News Sunday, Scalia also said he did not know if Chief Justice John Roberts changed his mind about the heath care law and decided to provide the key vote to uphold it.
"You'll have to ask him," Scalia said.
Scalia said "I don't talk about internal court proceedings," but he criticized reports that he and other conservatives are upset with Roberts over how the health care case was handled.
"You shouldn't believe what you read about this stuff," Scalia said.
Scalia -- who is giving interviews in order to promote a new book on legal theory -- did criticize Roberts' reasoning in upholding the Obama health care law. Roberts said the law's individual mandate -- the requirement that nearly all Americans buy health insurance, or pay a penalty -- is constitutional under Congress' taxing powers.
Scalia also beat back efforts by Fox host Chris Wallace to respond to President Obama's occasional criticism of the court.
"I don't criticize the president publicly," he said. "He normally doesn't criticize me publicly."
Scalia did cite the Obama's immigration policy in a dissenting opinion in a case about an Arizona law targeting illegal immigrants; the justice said that comment came in a judicial context, not in a political one.
Currently the longest serving justice, Scalia said the court is not political. Differences of opinion, including those reflected in 5-4 decisions, stem from differences in judicial philosophy, not political preferences.
