Antonin Scalia #fundie

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Antonin Scalia #fundie advocate.com

In an interview, Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia says the Constitution doesn't promise protections for women and gays.

California Lawyer asked Scalia the following question: "In 1868, when the 39th Congress was debating and ultimately proposing the 14th Amendment, I don't think anybody would have thought that equal protection applied to sex discrimination, or certainly not to sexual orientation. So does that mean that we've gone off in error by applying the 14th Amendment to both?"

The ultraconservative judge replied that the Constitution doesn't require discrimination against minorities, but that it certainly doesn't prohibit it.

"Nobody ever thought that that's what it meant," Scalia said of the 14th Amendment protecting women. "Nobody ever voted for that. If the current society wants to outlaw discrimination by sex, hey we have things called legislatures, and they enact things called laws."

65 comments

old comment by Anon-e-moose

"In an interview, Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia says the Constitution doesn't promise protections for women and gays."

Makes you wonder how he got to that lofty & august body, if he knows nothing about the very basis of US law: the Constitution.

Oh wait...

@aaa

"Why am i not surprised to find out that this man was appointed by Reagan?"

Judge Vaughn Walker was initially nominated by Ronnie Raygun, but was successfully opposed by a group of Democrat senators led by Nancy Pelosi; several tears later, he was personally appointed by Bush I. Judge Walker overturned Prop. 8 last year.

And of course, John E. Jones III was personally appointed by Dumbya in 2002. Three years later, his decision in Kitzmiller vs. Dover, and the precedent set, resulted in the final nail in the coffin in the whole Creation (via 'I.D.') vs. Evolution debate. Judge Jones is a Conservative Christian, appointed by a Conservative Christian who believes in Creationism; in turn voted in by the Religious Right.

Moral: Irony. It can be such a bitch, eh?

All it takes is a lawyer, well-versed in Constitutional law to prove him wrong. Not even the likes of you, Scalia, are above the law. Four Letters, pal: A.C.L.U.

I'm not a legal expert (nor even a citizen of the USA), yet even I know about the first part of the 14th Amendment:

http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#Am14

The fact that so many people outside the US know more about the very basis of that country than a sizeable proportion of those in the US, says so much about those specific people of that country.

old comment by Horsefeathers

"In an interview, Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia says the Constitution doesn't promise protections for women and gays."

See, this is what's wrong with that whole "get the job for life" idea.

"The ultraconservative judge replied that the Constitution doesn't require discrimination against minorities, but that it certainly doesn't prohibit it."

Oh, well then. As long as it doesn't require it or anything I guess it's ok.

""Nobody ever thought that that's what it meant," Scalia said of the 14th Amendment protecting women. "Nobody ever voted for that. If the current society wants to outlaw discrimination by sex, hey we have things called legislatures, and they enact things called laws.""

Of which you appear to be surprisingly uninformed of given your position. Keep this shit up and you'll be the first Justice removed from the position for incompetence.

old comment by dionysus

The Constitution also didn't originally say that slavery is bad. So what? That's what we have amendments for. The founding fathers had enough foresight to know that the issues of the day would change and they were smart enough not to set themselves up as infallible authorities. The letter of the Constitution may not have had equal rights for women, gays, and blacks but the spirit of the Constitution is and has always been a spirit of freedom and justice and anything that expands freedom and justice rather than contracting them fits with the spirit of the Constitution.

@Headache

Scalia - a FASCIST on the US supreme court - not surprising in a fascist country!

Are you taking brain inhibitor pills or something? Since when is the US anything near fascism? Yeah, there are a lot of ultra-conservatives, some of them in government but guess what? We're still winning major victories for equality despite them and last time I checked the country was still a democracy. Everyone still gets to vote and we aren't killing off minorities or people that disagree with the government. Hell, an entire "news" organization called Fox has been talking shit about the president the entire time he's been in office and yet they haven't been arrested or killed. It sounds to me like you A) Don't know jack shit about the US B) Don't know jack shit about fascism or C) Just plain don't know jack shit.

old comment by TheReasonator

@dionysus

I think headache has a good point.

From all I've seen and heard in my everyday life not just on this website I'm deeply worried about America becoming fascist.

I'll admit I'm a bit of a political junkie, so it hits me hard when I notice someone's political ignorance, when someone just has their facts flat out wrong, come to illogical conclusions, use fallacies, or when their opinions are based on lies often from the government itself. Why can't people be smart enough to at least research the information to make sure they aren't being lied to? It's especially jarring when I'm talking with people and it just doesn't seem like I'll be able to really explain my position.

Politics has real implications for people's everyday lives. Even a law that seems humorous if its enforced has real negative consequences whether it's just throwing people in jail for no good reason or letting authorities(not just public but private too such as parents, bosses, etc.) get away with hurting people. Some laws that are never enforced like the law against women getting their hair cut without their husband's permission are funny but even that if actually enforced would be a gross injustice.

But I digress. The reason I think we could be headed for fascism is because 1, look at these new laws, PATRIOT ACT, GITMO. Obama hasn't changed anything. He gave himself the 'right' to assassinate American citizens if he "thinks" they are a terrorist.

Add to that the Tea Party Movement and how there is a sizeable number of people in this country who would actually want Sarah Palin to be president.

In Germany even after WWI the Nazis were dismissed by most people as a bunch of lunatics who stood no chance of ever taking power. Less than a decade and a half later and most Germans supported Hitler.

old comment by Professor M

@ #1302715 --

What's scary and wrong is that it implies that no matter how clearly equal-protection laws are written, people like Scalia are more than willing to insist that their opinions of the motives and attitudes of the people who passed any given law are more binding than the laws themselves. Scalia is, effectively, declaring himself the absolute arbiter of the meaning of laws and insisting that the actual written laws themselves are secondary to his interpretation of what he imagines their social context to be. In other words, read the laws all you want -- but what will actually be enforced are Scalia's opinions, and the written laws be damned.

Antonin Scalia #fundie advocate.com

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