Justice Antonin Scalia [merged]

[gewhite3]

Re: Justice Scalia on 60 Minutes...

He's a jerk who thinks gays don't deserve any rights at all. I couldn't really care what he says. How anyone who claims to be GLBT or care about them can actually like or admire this man is beyond me.

 

[Sbaraglia]

Re: Justice Scalia on 60 Minutes...

I'm a gay liberal, but I respect people who disagree with me. Regarding Scalia, he's a bit of a cuss, but I respect his view that if something isn't covered in the Constitution, it's not covered in the Constitution - the legislative branch can pass a law. It's kind of a "duh" thing, I don't see it as evil at all. I really have to scratch my head at how anyone can see it as evil, unless it's that those people think that courts should be ruled by politics. (To rebut any howling responses filled with examples of court rulings that were ruled by politics; that it has happened doesn't make it right.) What's so wrong with working to change laws in state legislatures and in the national legislature? That it's difficult? In the long run, it's a lot more effective to do it that way - you actually change people's minds that way. But whether it's more difficult or not, or whether it's better in the long run or not, it's the way change must be implemented: if something is not in the Constitution, it's not in the Constitution. Work to elect people who agree with you. Pass a law.

[Example: if a case came before the Supreme Court regarding the burning to death of puppies, should the Supreme Court rule that it's unconstitutional to burn puppies to death? If they said it's not unconstitutional to burn puppies to death, are they evil heartless scum? Or are they simply pointing out that it's not covered in the Constitution? I'll bet that all nine justices think that burning puppies to death should be illegal, but they can't rule something constitutional or not based on their emotions. Again: if burning puppies to death should be outlawed, pass a law. (If anyone wants to point out how it really is covered in the Constitution, or give a history of puppy burning, please don't - it's just an example.)]

 

[Lostlover]

Re: Justice Scalia on 60 Minutes...

I found Scalia boring.

He tries so bad to have a personality and he's as dead as a doorknob.

What a boring segment. The Israeli segment was much more interesting.

 

[LaloGS]

Re: Justice Scalia on 60 Minutes...

He's a blame the left Repuglican, and can't get beyond the far Right agendas. To blame the Supreme court's interference in the 2000 election on Al Gore, when it was clearly obstruction of justice by Florida Repuglicans, and then deciding the election for Bush, makes the Supreme court complicit in poitlical fraud. They should have declined to participate since it was beyond their jurisdiction and job description. He's a political scumbag.

 

[metta]

Rep. Frank calls Scalia a homophobe

Rep. Frank calls Scalia a 'homophobe' in interview

WASHINGTON – Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank called Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia a "homophobe" in a recent interview with the gay news Web site 365gay.com. The Democratic lawmaker, who is gay, was discussing gay marriage and his expectation that the high court would some day be called upon to decide whether the Constitution allows the federal government to deny recognition to same-sex marriages.


"I wouldn't want it to go to the United States Supreme Court now because that homophobe Antonin Scalia has too many votes on this current court," said Frank. The video of the interview is available online.


Attempts to obtain a comment from Frank were not immediately successful Monday. Scalia had no comment.


Scalia dissented from the court's ruling in 2003 that struck down state laws banning consensual sodomy. He has complained about judges, rather than elected officials, deciding questions of morality about which the Constitution is silent.


Controversial topics like gay rights and abortion should not be in the hands of judges, he has said, calling on people to persuade their legislatures or amend the Constitution.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090324/ap_on_go_su_co/scotus_frank

 

[SonOfSlobone]

Re: Rep. Frank calls Scalia a homophobe

Go Barney baby!

 

[TygreBryte]

Re: Rep. Frank calls Scalia a homophobe

Thank Goddess for Barney Frank.

 

[seven_sins]

Re: Rep. Frank calls Scalia a homophobe

Really foolish and child like for a US Rep to call a sitting US SC Justice anything like that.

But it is true.

 

[chatolandia]

Re: Rep. Frank calls Scalia a homophobe

So members of the Supreme Court are somehow above prejudice?



I highly doubt that

 

[hotatlboi]

Re: Rep. Frank calls Scalia a homophobe

But it is true.

It is, but beardaddy is right. It was still foolish and childish to say that publicly.

 

[metta]

Re: Rep. Frank calls Scalia a homophobe

I think that it is ok. Homophobes do not belong on the Supreme Court. By bringing it out in the open, we can make sure that there is discussion to make sure that we do not add any more of them. To be silent is wrong.

 

[hotatlboi]

Re: Rep. Frank calls Scalia a homophobe

side note, I dont believe the Justice is afraid of homosexuals. He is a staunch catholic but that doesnt make him afraid of homosexuals.

I think his opinion in Lawrence makes it quite clear that his personal and religious feelings toward them will guide any legal decision he renders.

 

[scrapple]

Re: Rep. Frank calls Scalia a homophobe

Barney Frank is a buffoon. This clown didn't even know that little hustler he was screwing was operating a brothel out of Barney's own house! And Frank is part of the reason we are in this near-depression, thanks to his ineptitude dealing with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Has this ElmerFudd-soundalike ever held a job besides being a Washington incompetant?

 

[metta]

Re: Rep. Frank calls Scalia a homophobe

I think that we need to make sure that we have people on the supreme court that will do everything they can to protect the civil rights of an individual. They are the last resort....our last chance at equality...to be treated as all human beings should be treated.

 

[frankfrank]

Re: Rep. Frank calls Scalia a homophobe

Sometimes I use the term homophobe (or homophobic) myself, though I don't really like it. It happens to be the term that's in vogue, though. However, I am much more likely to use the tern antigay or anti-homosexual which is really a better description. However, there is no NOUN that describes anti-gay except, perhaps...well...homophobe.

Those who would deny us most or all of our civil rights aren't necessarily IN FEAR of us (though often they are) - however it is always true that they are "against" us, which is why I prefer using the anti- words.

 

[hotatlboi]

Re: Rep. Frank calls Scalia a homophobe

So do we now have or should have a religious test for Judges and maybe Prez & congress? I know this is off topic a bit.

Never said that, just that I think the comment is a pretty accurate description of Scalia's personal views.

I still say Frank should be more civil considering their positions.

Of course, it was a stupid thing to say and I agree with you there.

 

[NineOfClubs]

Re: Rep. Frank calls Scalia a homophobe

I think that it is ok. Homophobes do not belong on the Supreme Court. By bringing it out in the open, we can make sure that there is discussion to make sure that we do not add any more of them. To be silent is wrong.

So, I guess this clinches it.

We will no longer be putting any Catholics on the Supreme Court.

 

[Alpha1851]

Re: Rep. Frank calls Scalia a homophobe

So do we now have or should have a religious test for Judges and maybe Prez & congress? I know this is off topic a bit.

For Justices, it's all included in the Litmus Test. Besides, the Justice's religious preferences are usually common knowledge.

So, Scalia has been accused of being a homophobe. Uh, this isn't actually new.

 

[rareboy]

Re: Rep. Frank calls Scalia a homophobe

Really foolish and child like for a US Rep to call a sitting US SC Justice anything like that.

Not at all.

Scalia is exactly what Barney Frank says he is.

And Americans should be aware of this when they look at the rulings from this most odious of men.

His positions on almost any issue are frightening; including the use of torture.

How long is it until he retires, anyway?

 

[TygreBryte]

Re: Rep. Frank calls Scalia a homophobe

When GWBush said VERY publicly, after assuming office, that he "loathed" Kim Jong Il, I definitely thought that he was, "like, child!," not paying attention to the decorum that a sitting president should pay attention to. So maybe it would make sense to me to hold Barney Frank to the same standard. He was, after all, speaking to gay365.com, which he might consider as part of "his constituency," but also, he's an important Chairman right now, so maybe he should be more discrete.

Of course, I really agreed with GWBush in identifying KJL as "loathsome." He really really is. And, like some others in this thread, I agree that Scalia is homophobic, is influenced and guided by his personal religious beliefs in terms of how he rules for the whole US of A, and is just pretty frakkin' scary (to me. To other, I and others here on JUB are evil and scary. Feel the Evil?). I find it hard to fault Rep. Frank for his comment... or maybe it's that I just enjoy the comment so much I WON'T fault him.

I have to admit that I am not well-established enough, chapter and verse, to really come back with any responses to the the Democrats Are Responsible for Our Current Troubles Because Tehy Forced Freddy and Fanny to Give Out Cash to Worthless Shiftless No-Workin' Individuals meme (and yeah, probably even the sarcasm is a bit overblown and mis-directing!). But in my understanding of the greater context, that complaint has seemed to me to be a bit mis-directing, and over-blown.

(Here: Actually, I think it's bullshit. I will admit that there's enough holes in my knowledge that there might be SOMETHING to it, but honestly: Smells like bullshit to me.)

Former Texas Representative Dick Army has publicly said that, knowing what he knows now, he would have voted AGAINST going to war in Iraq in 2003, and that he would have worked to get other members of his party to vote the same way. As I recall, he pretty much laid it at Dick Cheney's feet. Thanks, Mr. Army, for being right on that.

Anyway, at one point, Mr. Army famously referred to Barney Frank as "Barney Faggot." When asked about this, Mr. Army dismissed it as "a slip of the tongue." You know, "Frank" SOUNDS A WHOLE LOT LIKE "Faggot," right? It could happen to anybody, right? Oh yeah, all the time.

Mr. Frank cannot claim that "homophobe" and "Scalia" are close enough, phonologically, to explain it away as a slip of the tongue. And actually, I don't think that's his style. My hat is off to him.

The whole thing with the hustler living in his apartment and running tricks out of it has always bothered me. Powerful people have been brought down for less; some have gotten away with more. For the moment, I've stuck that in the "still forgivable" pile. Maybe eventually that will change. But not now.

One reason I admire and appreciate Barney Frank is that he has been an OUT politician, and to some degree an effective out politician, from back in a time when that was NOTHING LIKE safe. So, thank Goddess for Barney Frank, for that alone.

But REALLY what I appreciate most about Barney Frank is that politically, he clearly stands against the ideological tide that says "If you're NOT RICH ENOUGH YOU DON'T COUNT." Check the Supreme Court for the last 2-3 years against that idea and see where you think that line is.

Go, Barney, Go.