TUCSON, Ariz. – U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia says those who want modern-day legal interpretations to view the U.S. Constitution through contemporary lenses are seeking rigidity, not flexibility, in the country's justice system.

Scalia is well-known as a strict constructionist in his interpretation of the Constitution. He told a Tucson audience Monday that the rival approach favors sweeping judicial decrees to shape society "coast to coast" on issues such as abortion, rather than seeking to pass laws state by state...