I'm no fan of Scalia, but who cares about his personal beliefs? As long as they don't interfere with his responsibilities as a Justice, why does it matter what religious beliefs he holds, particularly on a subject that will likely never arise in a lawsuit? Maybe if he had said something implicating that his ardent Catholicism made him rule in a certain fashion, it would be worth noting. It's not like the Justices are legal robots that have no lives or thoughts outside the law; they're allowed to have other beliefs. Scratch that, I'm a huge fan of Scalia and his hilarious court opinions.
What if I told you I didn't believe in good or bad? Seems to me that morality boils down to the incentives you're presented...
You know what's better than a massacre? A homicide. Just because its relatively better doesn't make it okay.
I agree. It's absurd to think that a belief in the devil would prevent someone from making reasonable decisions otherwise. I have grown to from being simply amused by Scalia to actually respecting him. In recent years he has been more liberal in criminal procedure (Bullcoming, Florida v. Jardines, Maryland v. King). His 4th Amendment dissents are classic.
I am not so sure I agree completely. You need SC members in touch with the people of the USA and share their values. At a minimum it is interesting and paints a picture of a man very much out of touch with a majority of Americans.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=90356&page=1 A majority of Americans are Christians, so in your theory, he is very much in touch with the majority of Americans. Not that it matters though. Like other posters have mentioned, it wouldn't matter if Scalia were Jewish, Christian, or Muslim, his ability to interpret law is outside of his religious beliefs.
Probably the majority of Justices in US history believed Satan was real. That belief has become less common than before in society, but it's still common enough now and we've had functional government for a long time even when it was pervasive. Here's a random poll from 2007 that found 62% of people believed in the devil and only 42% believing in Darwinian evolution. It's not really Scalia that's out of touch with the people of this country. I think this is a myth people like to insist upon, that you can have deeply-held religious beliefs that somehow don't express themselves in people's professional lives. That's impossible, imo. For Justices and Presidents and accountants and construction workers, your religious beliefs affect everything you do.
I read the interview and y'all are being trolled hard by Scalia. His comments on the devil sound like they are meant to be tongue firmly in cheek.
Ya, his anti-gay bigotry/epithets/opinions are in no way related to his personal beliefs that they are evil sinners in thrall to Satan himself. Btw if you actually think he's hilarious - do you also enjoy the comic stylings of Dane Cook?
Look, I believe in legal realism as much as the next guy, but where does that get you? Until we can actually make law robots, we just have to deal with Justices having personal belief systems that may impact how they rule. Have you seen some of the stuff Ginsburg says? I'm generally left-leaning, but she's nuts. At the end of the day, as long as Scalia isn't justifying his rulings with Bible verses and papal edicts, there's not much I can find to complain about.
No, I find Dan Cook to be an annoying azzhat. Have you actually read any of his opinions in their entirety? If you have and had any sort of legal background, you'd know why many people (myself included) are amused by Scalia. Furthermore, you can disagree with his views, but Scalia is obviously very intelligent and an excellent writer. As for your "anti-gay" claim, when has he ever used epithets in his opinions? I not claiming he isn't anti-gay, because as a Catholic, he's probably like most other Christians in personally opposing homosexual relationships. However, every Justice will let their beliefs influence their voting. Why are Scalia's beliefs accorded less respect than one of the liberal Justices? As long as they can justify their positions with sound legal reasoning (which Scalia usually does), what more can we expect?
Out of curiosity, what makes it interesting to you? I would think this is true of many people of his age. I can't think of a single woman peer of mine (50+) that uses the "f" word. Also, people that I tend to hang around with don't talk like that.
You must enjoy jeff dunham as well, I mean look at this amusing passage: LMFAO - Carlos Mencia will be taking that at sometime soon. another hilarious bit from carrot top scalia during Lawrence v. Texas: Get it? flagpole sitting, TEE HEE. Dude is killing it out there.
Wait, KingCheetah, is his belief in the devil the topic of discussion here or the fact that he called the devil a "person"? Based on comments in the thread there is some obvious confusion.
delete....i get pissed off when i write about the church getting this way so i'm just gonna delete what i wrote
I agree with you. I just don't think we should pretend like personal beliefs don't influence professional decision-making. I'd rather say, yes, it's relevant and, no, that doesn't disqualify anyone from the job.
I was saying the belief in the physical existence of the devil was irrelevant because it would never be an issue in court, not Scalia's general belief system.
