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U.S. Supreme Court

Justice Alito Criticizes Focus on Supreme Court’s Catholic Majority

Posted Oct 21, 2009 6:08 AM CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. doesn’t understand all the fuss about the U.S. Supreme Court’s Catholic majority.

Speaking Tuesday to an Italian-American law group in Philadelphia, Alito said he thought the Constitution settled the question with its guarantee of religious freedom, the Associated Press reports.

"There has been so much talk lately about the number of Catholics serving on the Supreme Court," Alito said, according to the AP account. "This is one of those questions that does not die."

Alito complained about "respectable people who have seriously raised the questions in serious publications about whether these individuals could be trusted to do their jobs."

Six justices on the nine-member court are Catholics. One of them, Justice Antonin Scalia, is also said to be unhappy with the suggestion that religion may influence the justices’ votes.

Comments

1.

B. McLeod
Oct 21, 2009 6:26 AM CST

Sure.  How could anybody’s basic belief system, understandings of “right” & “wrong,” or personal religious values inculcated from childhood possibly influence their judicial decisions?  No worries.

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2.

Joe
Oct 21, 2009 6:35 AM CST

B. McLeod: if Catholicism is such a pervasive influence on the Justices, then you should expect Justice Sotomayor and Justice Scalia to concur on every issue. Something tells me that’s not going to happen any time soon.

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3.

B. McLeod
Oct 21, 2009 7:48 AM CST

I assume that, at the Franciscan/Jesuit basketball games, those two root for different teams.

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4.

Kristin
Oct 21, 2009 9:47 AM CST

Since Justice Scalia is unable to see why a Christian cross as a war memorial might be offensive to Jewish soldiers, then I think it’s a valid question.

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5.

AndytheLawyer
Oct 21, 2009 10:06 AM CST

Of course Catholic Supreme Court justices can issue opinions that differ from Church doctrine.  They’re only placing their immortal souls at risk, right?

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6.

Concerned
Oct 21, 2009 11:19 AM CST

How many Jews serve on the Supreme Court? How many of them are crypto Jews? And how is that in relation to their overall population numbers?

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7.

Gina Furia Rubel
Oct 21, 2009 11:49 AM CST

As the Chancellor of The Justinian Society which hosted the luncheon, I think it important to note that Justice Alito also spoke in depth about his rich Italian heritage, his love of the Philadelphia Phillies the role of immigrants from many countries in shaping the United States and our collective duty to educate our children about all facets of U.S. history including the role of immigrants.

-Gina F. Rubel

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8.

AndytheLawyer
Oct 21, 2009 12:14 PM CST

#6—I’ve heard of orthodox, jews, conservative Jews, reform Jews, hasidic jews, and Jews for Jesus.  But I’ve never heard of a Crypto Jew.  It sounds all science fictiony.  What’s it mean?

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9.

Been There
Oct 21, 2009 5:09 PM CST

“Sure.  How could anybody’s basic belief system, understandings of “right” & “wrong,” or personal religious values inculcated from childhood possibly influence their judicial decisions?  No worries.” 

Hmmmmmmm .  .  .  . 

I take it, then Mr. M., that in the interest of dispassionate objectivity, you decline all opportunities to amke any decisions (hiring decisions, jury duty etc.) since you would not want to take the risk that *your own* biases might affect your decisions?  Or would I be wrong in that assumption?

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10.

Walt Fricke
Oct 21, 2009 7:22 PM CST

Well, surely abortion is the elephant behind all this. 

While opposition to it is hardly exclusive to Catholicism, the Church’s teachings are pretty unequivocal in this area.  On the other hand, so they are on various forms of contraception. Lots of Catholics use condoms or the pill.  It does not appear that the Church’s position there has spilled over into the judicial arena. 

One can hope this is the case with Roe v. Wade as well, and we may get opinions stating that the author’s personal preferences are different than the outcome, but stare decisis is valuable for political stability, etc.

I thought Roe was a great step forward for our society.  Still do, but have come to realize it is also a poster child for “whose ox is gored,” given the tenuous connection between the opinion and the Constitution.  I have grimaced and complained about a variety of political Court decisions which did not fit my druthers.

So it is best to keep one’s fingers crossed.  And I think it is to the credit of our Presidents (and the Senate) that an appointee’s religion does not seem to be much of an issue any more.

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11.

B. McLeod
Oct 23, 2009 1:53 AM CST

Been There, I can only say that I differ from any person you have ever met where decision-making is concerned, and the issue you reference has never been a problem for me, because I was not irreparably, formatively inculcated with a particular religion, and by age 12 had reviewed the key works of the planet’s main religious divisions (and their competing subdivisions) on the off chance that an understanding of such matters could be important.  The vast majority of people, worldwide, do of course continue to associate with the belief system they were “born into,” and so, for most of the world’s population, any and all spiritual understanding is controlled by fortuity of birth.

Walt (@ 10), one of my friends and colleagues once got a good chuckle from me by remarking, “The problem with American Catholics is that we’re all Protestants.”

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