Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
LGBT
Related: About this forumTHE ANIMUS OF ANTONIN SCALIA
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2012/12/the-moral-feelings-of-antonin-scalia.html***SNIP
A few months from now, when the Supreme Court hears arguments in the two same-sex marriage cases it accepted for review last Friday, many observers will likely be in Hosies positionlistening with some amazement to Scalia as he berates lawyers, fascinated by his animosity, wondering about the point where a cruel note removes any enjoyment one might find in intellectual theatrics. There havent exactly been signs that Scalia is mellowing. His dissent, this year, in an Arizona immigration-law case, was as politicized and angry as everand gay-rights cases do not exactly bring out his soft side. For the health-care case, we had broccoli arguments; for same-sex marriage, we will likely be coming back to bestiality.
At the same time, those listening to the arguments will hear the story of Edith Windsor, the plaintiff in one of the two casesthe one that is the best chance to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act, which withholds federal recognition of same-sex marriages that states sanction. Windsor met her wife, Thea Spyer, in 1965; she danced with her so long that, at the end of the evening, there was a hole in her stockings, as Spyer told the Times in the couples wedding announcement. A few years later, Spyer was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and Windsor eventually quit her job (as an early computer programmer at IBM) to take care of her full time. By the time the two were able to marry, in 2007, Spyer was confined to a wheelchair. When she died, Windsor was subjected to more than six hundred thousand dollars in taxes on the apartment and country house they sharedtaxes that a heterosexual widow would have been spared. That injury is what gave her standing to bring the case; her commitment to her wife and her steadfastness should be humbling even for Scalia. (Admittedly, that may be optimistic.)
But there are also a couple of points in Scalias dissents that are worth thinking about, if only as objects of contemplation. The first is his firm belief that earlier gay-rights cases set the legal framework for same-sex marriage, and that his opponents were blind in denying that. He may have been rightif thoroughly wrong to oppose gay-rights for that reason. One recalls the scenes in Lincoln, in which Thaddeus Stevens restrains himself from saying what he knows and hopes will be truethat an end to slavery may lead to a broader, truer social equality. Scalia clings to hatewhat he calls animusbecause hes got nothing else; what he is missing, though, is that an increasing number of Americans have found that when legal strictures and open discrimination are stripped away they are left not with the reprehensible, but with neighbors, friends, and family members whom they love, and see loving each other. Little wonder, then, that two-thirds of those under thirty support same-sex marriage.
Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2012/12/the-moral-feelings-of-antonin-scalia.html#ixzz2Ew6DbR7p
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
6 replies, 1312 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (1)
ReplyReply to this post
6 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
THE ANIMUS OF ANTONIN SCALIA (Original Post)
xchrom
Dec 2012
OP
William769
(55,147 posts)1. Add foam to the mouth and this will be him in the deliberations.
joeybee12
(56,177 posts)2. KNr...I also wrote an article about Scalia...it follows below..
"Scalia is a pig."
The End
William769
(55,147 posts)3. Short, sweet & to the point.
joeybee12
(56,177 posts)4. Brevity is best!
Brilliant!
joeybee12
(56,177 posts)6. Nominate me for a Pulitzer!