The ABA Journal reports on his speech at the University of Richmond where he defended the idea of “originalism” which to some of us less brilliant folks can be translated as: words actually mean things.
He points out the founders of our Constitution clearly did not understand the Due Process clause to require gay marriage or abortion.
And then he warned about the alternative theory, the “living document” theory effectively allows “five out of nine hotshot lawyers to run the country.”
Ted Olson once understood that would wrong, but I guess when you are one of the hotshot lawyers it seems like an increasingly good idea. God bless Justice Scalia for resisting the temptations of power!
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And God bless Justice Scalia for noting, in Lawrence v. Texas, that without illegal sodomy, it would be impossible make same-sex marriage illegal!
And why no mention here of the 14th Amendment guarantee of Equal Protection? Due Process is a strong claim for marriage equality, but Equal Protection is even stronger.
It always amuses me when people like Antonin Scalia claim some profound insight into what the so-called "Founding Fathers" INTENDED. There was nothing supernatural about the framers of the Constitution. They were not clairvoyant. None of them in their wildest dreams could've have anticipated American society and culture in the 21st century.
In the late 1700s there was little in the way of religious pluralism as we think of it today. Slavery was accepted practice, and blacks were not even considered full human beings. Women were little more than property with few of the legal rights men had. There was no digital media, no air travel, and the organized Gay community didn't even exist.
I think Scalia's wistful clinging to this notion of "Originalism" makes him little more than a walking, talking anachronism.
Chuck.... Reading the depth of your twisted post brings this quote to mind:
"Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder
respectable, and to give the appearance of solidarity to pure wind."
-- George Orwell
Hard to be an anachronism exactly when you are one of 9 votes on the Supreme Court.
The best part of all of this, homosexual marriage activists, is that Justice Scalia will be on the bench of The United States Supreme Court until he either passes away or chooses to retire. You my like that, you may not like that but, either way, you have no choice but to live with it, LOL!
"And God bless Justice Scalia for noting, in Lawrence v. Texas, that without illegal sodomy, it would be impossible make same-sex marriage illegal!"
Adultery has been decriminalized as well. But has that paved the way for bigamy and polygamy? No more than the decriminalization of homosexuality will pave the way for SSM.
"And why no mention here of the 14th Amendment guarantee of Equal Protection? Due Process is a strong claim for marriage equality, but Equal Protection is even stronger."
Do you believe that the 14th Amendment covers women's sufferage as well? If so, then why was it necessary to pass the 19th amendment granting women the right to vote? In fact, why was it necessary to pass the 15th Amendment if black sufferage is already covered in the 14th Amendment? By your broad interpretation, every law in the US is unconstitutional since they "abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States" in one way or another.
It will be seen that the wisest pundit in the whole Prop 8 case is the one who noted that the "Dream Team" legal strategy suffers from one fatal flaw; that is, an inability to count to five.
Oh, that is TOO funny, Rick!