More Thoughts on Marriage

Sean Samis has posted a lengthy response to my post expressing “different” thoughts on the Iowa decision on same-sex marriage. I thank him for his response and, while I think he has got it wrong, he’d get a great grade for his efforts in my Law & Theology seminar or Wisconsin Supreme Court class and so he deserves a response. Given the length of the remarks that I am about to make, I once again thought it better to post separately.

I have come to believe that the underlying presumptions of proponents and opponents of same-sex marriage are almost ontological in their differences about the nature of the law and the way in which it shapes and is shaped by society. We are all hard-wired now days to think of constitutional law as, largely, the mediation between the “rights” of individuals and the “demands” of the state. The former are seen as radically subjective, while the latter are the sum of their legal incidents. The former are not to be judged, and the latter are often examined for their “fit” without regard for their interaction with extralegal norms and institutions.

We also are steeped in an almost eschatological view of the law in which we see the claims of some new “discrete and insular minority” as analogous to those advanced during the civil rights movement and somehow validated by an Hegelian move toward “equality” and progressivism.

Continue ReadingMore Thoughts on Marriage

Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori Sentenced to 25 Years for Human Rights Abuses

Today, the Peruvian Supreme Criminal Court convicted former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) of human rights abuses and sentenced him to 25 years in prison.  An historic sentence, this ruling represents one of the few times that a wholly domestic court has tried a former president for international crimes.  In particular, the Peruvian state convicted Fujimori for ordering the massacres at Barrios Altos (the extrajudicial execution of twelve people at a local party in 1991) and La Cantuta  (the extrajudicial execution of eight students and a professor in 1992), as well as the kidnapping of journalist Gustavo Gorriti and businessman Samuel Dyer. 

Relying on the criminal liability theory of “command responsibility,” the prosecutor provided evidence that the hierarchal chain of command led directly to Fujimori.  Notably, the court found that the systematic and general policy of violent and repressive means of fighting a “war against terror” made these crimes rise to the level of “crimes against humanity.”   Lawyers for the victims later pointed out to reporters that international law currently recognizes that perpetrators of this category of crime can never receive an amnesty or pardon.

As I watched the live coverage of the hearing online, I wondered what Fujimori was thinking.  For the entire duration of the sentencing (which lasted all morning), he vigorously scribbled notes on his notepad and did not look up even once.   Did he grasp the gravity of his acts?  Or did he still believe they were justified as part of his campaign against terrorists?  I suspect that when Fujimori stumbled on the Peruvian political scene almost two decades ago, he never could have imagined he would make history in this way.

Continue ReadingFormer Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori Sentenced to 25 Years for Human Rights Abuses

Thoughts on the Iowa Supreme Court’s Marriage Decision

First, let me thank Prof. Slavin for inviting me to contribute to the blog.  I shall try not to be dull, and in that effort, I begin my blogging stint with a controversial topic, the Iowa Supreme Court’s recent decision striking down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.

My take on same-sex marriage begins with my personal experiences with same-sex couples, and homosexuals in general.  If the law treats them like second-class citizens, and my experience shows me that this is just not right, then I look to the law to make sense of why this treatment must be so.  And I cannot find the justification.

The first time I met someone I knew to be gay was in the Navy.  I met many during my service.  On our boat, the presence of gay sailors was open and notorious, and no one cared.  They did their jobs and stood their watches; nothing else mattered.  It was the same on shore.  

Continue ReadingThoughts on the Iowa Supreme Court’s Marriage Decision