Scalia Slams 'Living
Constitution'
by AP from the Web,
May 6, 2005
College Station, TX May 5, --
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on Thursday said the public -- not the
courts -- should make decisions on controversial issues such as abortion, the
death penalty and gay rights.
He said too many courts are interpreting the Constitution as a document that
evolves with society, but that he believes it should be interpreted as it was
written.
"The Constitution is not a living organism. It is a legal document ... and
like all legal documents it doesn't change," Scalia told about 1,000 people
during a 30-minute speech at the George Bush Presidential Library Center at
Texas A&M University.
Scalia said if the American people want to ban or uphold issues like abortion,
the death penalty or gay rights, they need to convince their fellow citizens to
do so and not leave it up to judges.
"The Constitution has nothing to say about it either way," said Scalia, who has
discussed his stance in many other speeches.
When the public supported the right of women to vote, Scalia said, Congress
passed the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. Scalia said that would not
happen today, but instead judges would simply read in such a right into the
Constitution's equal protection clause, which doesn't address the subject.
"You should not use the Constitution as a means to enforce your own social
views," he said.
The crowd at this generally conservative university greeted the speech with
cheers and applause. Former President Bush, Barbara Bush, and three
justices from the conservative Texas Supreme Court attended the speech.
The former president introduced Scalia.
"Am I totally preaching to the choir here?" Scalia joked.
Other Supreme Court justices have argued the Constitution is a living document.
Scalia, who has been on the court since 1986, described himself as an "originalist,"
someone who thinks the Constitution means the same thing now as when it was
first drafted.
Calling the idea of the living Constitution "terribly seductive" for judges,
Scalia said originalism is the "only game in town."
"You either tell your judges to be bound by the original meaning of the
Constitution or you evolve our Constitution the way you think is best," he said.
"That is not a road that has a happy ending."
Scalia also criticized the increasing politicization of nominating and
appointing federal judges.
"We want a moderate judge. What in the world is a moderate judge?" he
said. "What is a moderate interpretation of the Constitution?
Halfway between what it really says and what you'd like it to say?"
Scalia's positions on gay rights issues that have come before the high court
have shown an extreme conservative view.
In the case that overturned sodomy laws Scalia dissented from the majority
writing, "The court has largely signed on to the so-called homosexual agenda."
He took the unusual step of reading his dissent from the bench.
|
