Scalia Takes on Constitution

By Julie Bolcer

A decision by Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia to accept an invitation from Congresswoman Michele Bachmann to address incoming House members on the Constitution prompts concern that the high court is inserting itself into politics.

The Los Angeles Times reported the reaction of experts including George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley, who said the move by Scalia showed “exceedingly poor judgment.”

“He said the association of Scalia, an outspoken conservative, with the bombastic Bachmann, who once accused then- Sen. Barack Obama of being ‘anti-American,’ could contribute to the high court becoming overly politicized.”

This week, Scalia said in an interview that the Constitution does not protect people against discrimination on the basis of sex and sexual orientation, which he called the job of the legislatures.

Bachmann, the founder of the House Tea Party caucus and a potential 2012 presidential candidate, defended the invitation by saying that both Democrats and Republicans were welcome to attend the speech on January 24. Scalia will address the topic of separation of powers.

The event would not be the first time a sitting Supreme Court justice has conferred with the legislative branch, the Times reported.

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Scalia: Constitution Doesn't Protect Women, Gays

By Advocate.com Editors

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."

Scalia's responses were met with sharp criticism by some. "In these comments, Justice Scalia says if Congress wants to protect laws that prohibit sex discrimination, that's up to them," Marcia Greenberger, founder of the National Women's Law Center, told The Huffington Post. "But what if they want to pass laws that discriminate?"

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