THIS WEEK’S COMIC

Judge Scalia kicks butt across the time/space continuum in search of ORIGINALISM!

 

BONUS POINTS: Can you find the one thing Scalia and I agree on?  (Hint:  it has to do with pizza and Chicago.)

 

1025cbt scalia - originalism

 

You think I'm makin' this stuff up?  From the January, 2011 issue of California Lawyer:

 

Q:  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?
Scalia:  Yes, yes. Sorry, to tell you that. … But, you know, if indeed the current society has come to different views, that's fine. You do not need the Constitution to reflect the wishes of the current society. Certainly the Constitution does not require discrimination on the basis of sex. The only issue is whether it prohibits it. It doesn't. Nobody ever thought that that's what it meant. 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. You don't need a constitution to keep things up-to-date. All you need is a legislature and a ballot box. You don't like the death penalty anymore, that's fine. You want a right to abortion? There's nothing in the Constitution about that. But that doesn't mean you cannot prohibit it. Persuade your fellow citizens it's a good idea and pass a law. That's what democracy is all about. It's not about nine superannuated judges who have been there too long, imposing these demands on society.

 

Q:  You more or less grew up in New York. Being a child of Sicilian immigrants, how do you think New York City pizza rates?
Scalia:  I think it is infinitely better than Washington pizza, and infinitely better than Chicago pizza. You know these deep-dish pizzas—it's not pizza. It's very good, but … call it tomato pie or something. … I'm a traditionalist, what can I tell you?

 

Oh, Antonin.  How can you be so very wrong, and yet so very right?