Scalia strikes again!

[Warpy]

The U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites) questioned on Wednesday whether a Ten Commandments display on public property represented an unconstitutional endorsement of religion or an acceptable historical symbol of law.
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Justice Antonin Scalia (news - web sites) dismissed an argument that the Ten Commandments provided the basis for the U.S. Declaration of Independence. "That's idiotic," he said. "You can't get the Declaration of Independence out of the Ten Commandments."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&u=/nm/20050302/ts_nm/court_commandments_dc_6

This bozo is interpreting the law? Has he ever READ the Declaration? Has he ever read the 10 commandments? Can't we get rid of him for obvious signs of insanity?

Good gawd.

[Hamlette]

1. wait, isn't he saying the Declaration of Independence is NOT based

on the 10 commandments?

What's wrong with that?

[Warpy]

4. Read the whole statement

The reporter's attempt at interpretation was not what Scalia said.

When your eyeballs stop revolving like pinwheels (which is the effect it had on mine), you're left with the impression that he thinks Moses used the Declaration of Independence as inspiration for the Ten Commandments.

WHA?

[0007]

7. I can't understand what your trying to say Warpy!

[teryang]

2. ?

Not a Scalia fan by any means but I'm not following your comments at all.

[delhurgo]

3. Sounds to me like he's making sense for once.

Although he only referred to the Ten Commandments as NOT be the basis for our Declaration, maybe that suggests that he doesn't think any of our laws are based on religious texts. Maybe thats reading too much into it, but his use of the term 'idiotic' is aimed directly at the people who suggest that this is a 'christian nation'.

I still disagree with his 'strict constructionist/states rights' philosophy, but at least this is finally something he's said that I agree with.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

5. I took it to mean

That they were not related.

[Warpy]

6. "That's idiotic," he said. "You can't get the Declaration of Independence

out of the Ten Commandments"<--Scalia

The reporter was trying to sanitize it by implying "Well, he REALLY meant."

[WilliamPitt]

8. Um...this is Scalia using his brain

He is saying the Constitution and the 10 commandments have nothing to do with each other and are in no way connected. He's right. Or am I missing something?

[hopein08]

9. Yikes! I think I agree with Scalia...

That is one of the scariest thoughts I've ever had!

But I like that he said it's idiotic to think that the Declaration of Independence came out of the Ten Commandments. I also like that he said the Texas AG should just put up the disclaimer. That might actually work...

But to have to agree with Scalia...I feel dirty!

[globalvillage]

10. That's interesting

I wonder the full context of his statement re the Declaration. Here's a previous (12/04) Scalia comment that is seriously contrary.

"Antonin Scalia, the man most likely to be our next Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, turned history on its head recently when he attended an Orthodox synagogue in New York and claimed that the Founders intended for their Christianity to play a part in government. Scalia then went so far as to suggest that the reason Hitler was able to initiate the Holocaust was because of German separation of church and state.

The Associated Press reported on November 23, 2004, "In the synagogue that is home to America's oldest Jewish congregation, he noted that in Europe, religion-neutral leaders almost never publicly use the word 'God.'"

"Did it turn out that," Scalia asked rhetorically, "by reason of the separation of church and state, the Jews were safer in Europe than they were in the United States of America?" He then answered himself, saying, "I don't think so."

Scalia has an extraordinary way of not letting facts confound his arguments, but this time he's gone completely over the top by suggesting that a separation of church and state facilitated the Holocaust. If his comments had gotten wider coverage (they were only noted in one small AP article, and one in the Jerusalem Post), they may have brought America's largest religious communities - both Christian and Jewish - into the streets. "

more
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1202-33.htm

edit copy/paste error

[Lone_Star_Dem]

11. Here the quote in context

David Friedman of the ACLU speaks against the Kentucky display. He's given almost 10 minutes of open-mike time, as the justices are either too confused or too tired to fight anymore. He rests much of his argument on the expressly religious and sectarian purpose behind the initial display, quoting the county officials' unapologetic claims that "America is a Christian nation" and "Christ is a prince of morals" as well as their resounding support for Judge Roy Moore.

Breyer asks (probably to pre-empt Scalia), "What's wrong with saying there is a religious role in history?" Friedman replies that "there's a difference between saying that religion played a role in our history and saying it is the moral foundation." He adds that the counties were claiming the commandments as "the moral background of the Declaration of Independence."

"If that what it meant, that's idiotic," snaps Scalia. "You can't get the Declaration of Independence out of the Ten Commandments!"

http://slate.msn.com/id/2114258/nav/ais/