Scalia's (not very Catholicc, right wing) Originalism
Last edited Wed Feb 17, 2016, 10:10 AM - Edit history (1)
By Patricia Miller
February 16, 2016
The late Antonin Scalia is rightly being remembered for almost single-handedly creating and promulgating the idea of “originalism,” the highly controversial doctrine that the Constitution is like a bug entombed in amber, forever frozen in its original meaning to the people of the day.
For many, his towering contribution in this arena not only overshadows his devout Catholicism, but overrides it. As Emma Green writes in The Atlantic:
His Roman Catholic faith often seemed to lurk in the background of his opinions, especially in cases involving abortion and homosexuality. But above all, he was committed to a literal, originalist interpretation of the Constitution, along with strict attention to the texts of federal and state laws. His views didn’t always align with those of the Church, and he didn’t always side with people making religious-freedom claims.
But less recognized is how Scalia presaged a new kind of Catholicism that in turn profoundly influenced his jurisprudence.
That Scalia was a devout Catholic is clear. He was a product of a Jesuit high school and university. He (along with fellow Court conservative Clarence Thomas) attended St. Catherine of Siena in the tony suburbs of Virginia, with its high Latin Mass and rumblings of Opus Dei. The only child of an Italian immigrant father and a second-generation Italian mother, he and his wife had nine children after playing what he himself called “Vatican Roulette.”
But his rulings fit less neatly into the template of Catholic teaching, than into American conservatism—he agreed with the church on abortion and same-sex marriage but disagreed with it on the death penalty and gun control.
http://religiondispatches.org/scalias-not-very-catholic-right-wing-originalism/
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