Saturday, October 06, 2012

Justice Scalia: Abortion, Homosexuality Easy Cases

While some U.S. Supreme Court justices engage in much soul-searching on controversial cases, one justice says the decision on the two most hotly contested current issues is "easy as pie."
". . . Give me a break. It's easy. Abortion? Absolutely easy. Nobody ever thought the Constitution prevented restrictions on abortion. Homosexual sodomy? Come on. For 200 years, it was criminal in every state."
-- Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia (10/2/12)
For background, read No Right to Same-sex 'Marriage:' Supreme Court Justice Scalia and also read Same-sex 'Marriage' & DOMA Forced to Supreme Court as well as Eroding Roe v. Wade State-by-state

-- From "Justice Scalia says abortion, death penalty cases easy calls" by Joel Connelly, Seattle Post Intelligencer 10/5/12

Scalia was recently discoursing before an American Enterprise Institute audience on being a self-described “textualist” who believes the U.S. Constitution should be interpreted exactly as written and intended by the Founders more than 200 years ago.

Scalia has consistently dissented from Supreme Court rulings that have limited application of the death penalty in cases of underage or mentally defective defendants.  He has consistently voted to overrule the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision that legalized abortion.

The Supreme Court, by a 6-3 vote in 2003, overturned Texas’ anti-sodomy law and recognized privacy in the bedroom.  Scalia filed a fiery dissent, arguing that the ruling furthered “the homosexual agenda.”

The Supremes will take up same-sex marriage later this term, according to Scalia’s colleague Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Scalia says death penalty, abortion, gay rights are easy calls" by The Associated Press 10/5/12


He contrasted his style of interpretation with that of a colleague who tries to be true to the values of the Constitution as he applies them to a changing world. This imaginary justice goes home for dinner and tells his wife what a wonderful day he had, Scalia said.

This imaginary justice, Scalia continued, announces that it turns out “’the Constitution means exactly what I think it ought to mean.’ No kidding.”

As he has said many times before, the justice said the people should turn to their elected lawmakers, not judges, to advocate for abortion rights or an end to the death penalty. Or they should try to change the Constitution, although Scalia said the Constitution makes changing it too hard by requiring 38 states to ratify an amendment for it to take effect.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Everything You Thought Was Hard Is Easy" by Juliet Lapidos, New York Times 10/5/12

. . . Justice Scalia turned to mocking so-called Living Constitutionalists, who think the document has a dynamic meaning and that contemporary views should be taken into account when interpreting it. . . .

Like his imaginary justice, Justice Scalia sometimes fails to set aside his personal beliefs. Consider his dissent in Lawrence v. Texas, which struck down the state sodomy laws he finds so obviously acceptable under the Constitution. He said Americans have every right to enforce “the moral opprobrium that has traditionally attached to homosexual conduct” in order to protect “themselves and their families from a lifestyle that they believe to be immoral and destructive.”

In that dissent, he argued that sodomy laws don’t violate the equal protection clause.

To read the entire opinion column above, CLICK HERE.