Comments on: Constitutional View, Not Catholicism, Behind Scalia’s Opinions on Abortion http://law.marquette.edu/facultyblog/2009/11/23/constitutional-view-not-catholicism-behind-scalias-opinions-on-abortion/ Sun, 12 Feb 2012 17:44:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Peter R Heyne http://law.marquette.edu/facultyblog/2009/11/23/constitutional-view-not-catholicism-behind-scalias-opinions-on-abortion/comment-page-1/#comment-27121 Peter R Heyne Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:40:33 +0000 http://law.marquette.edu/facultyblog/?p=8126#comment-27121 Mr. Borsuk, Thank you for this insightful post. I draw attention to Justice Scalia's pointed words in his dissent in the death penalty case <i>Atkins v. Virginia</i>: "I agree with THE CHIEF JUSTICE...that the views of professional and **religious organizations** and the results of opinion polls are irrelevant (** added). 536 U.S. 304, 347 (2002). In a footnote immediately thereafter, Justice Scalia declares: "The Court cites, for example, the views of the United States Catholic Conference [a predecessor to the present-day <a HREF="http://www.usccb.org/" rel="nofollow">US Conference of Catholic Bishops</A>, which has been very active lately in the health care debate], whose members are the active Catholic Bishops of the United States...The attitudes of that body regarding crime and punishment are so far from being representative, even of the views of Catholics, that they are currently the object of intense national (and entirely ecumenical) criticism." One may also note the article in First Things that Justice Scalia penned, <a HREF="http://www.firstthings.com/article/2007/01/gods-justice-and-ours-32" rel="nofollow">"God's Justice and Ours"</A>, which is overtly critical of Pope John Paul II's encyclical <i>Evangelium Vitae</i> and the Catholic Catechism regarding the death penalty. Mr. Borsuk,

Thank you for this insightful post.

I draw attention to Justice Scalia’s pointed words in his dissent in the death penalty case Atkins v. Virginia: “I agree with THE CHIEF JUSTICE…that the views of professional and **religious organizations** and the results of opinion polls are irrelevant (** added). 536 U.S. 304, 347 (2002).

In a footnote immediately thereafter, Justice Scalia declares: “The Court cites, for example, the views of the United States Catholic Conference [a predecessor to the present-day US Conference of Catholic Bishops, which has been very active lately in the health care debate], whose members are the active Catholic Bishops of the United States…The attitudes of that body regarding crime and punishment are so far from being representative, even of the views of Catholics, that they are currently the object of intense national (and entirely ecumenical) criticism.”

One may also note the article in First Things that Justice Scalia penned,
“God’s Justice and Ours”, which is overtly critical of Pope John Paul II’s encyclical Evangelium Vitae and the Catholic Catechism regarding the death penalty.

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