Posted on 09/30/2004 11:09:17 PM PDT by Texaggie79
He is the conservative bastion of the US supreme court, a favourite of President Bush, and a hunting partner of the vice-president. He has argued vociferously against abortion rights, and in favour of anti-sodomy laws. But it turns out that there is another side to Justice Antonin Scalia: he thinks Americans ought to be having more orgies. Challenged about his views on sexual morality, Justice Scalia surprised his audience at Harvard University, telling them: "I even take the position that sexual orgies eliminate social tensions and ought to be encouraged." It seems unlikely that this is what President Bush meant when he promised to appoint more judges like Scalia to the court, should the opportunity arise. Crucially, Justice Scalia is one of the judges in favour of overturning Roe v Wade, the landmark judgment protecting abortion as a constitutional right. One audience member also asked the judge "whether you have any gay friends, and, if not, whether you'd like to be my friend," the Harvard Crimson newspaper reported. "I probably do have some gay friends, but I have never pressed the point," Justice Scalia responded. He offered no clue to the logic behind his claim that orgies eliminate social tensions. Nobody asked him whether he was familiar with Rick Moody's novel The Ice Storm, turned into a movie by Ang Lee, which appeared to suggest the exact opposite.
Of course this was taken out of context. Apparently, you can't even make a joke anymore without everyone jumping all over you.
Sounds like this was taken out of context. Anyone have the transcript on this conversation?
""scalia orgies". Now that brings up the disturbing thought of scalia in an orgy.
*shudder*"
Here let me help that thought a bit:
"Come on Sandy, who's a bad lil judge?"
Thanks, Judge Scalia!!
You might want to read all his comments before you make that determination based on a single quote presented without any underlying context.
It is true - power corrupts completely.
That one of power's rotten to the core.
I'm feeling very tense right now. Who's with me?
Try here.
Dunno. It depends on who's involved.
Thank You for the context, though I'd really like to hear a recording of this discussion to fully appease my mind.
I was thinking of the Judge. That is too gross to contemplate.
After you saw that, you'd have to shoot yourself. Either to put yourself out of your misery, or because once you'd seen that, there wouldn't be anything to "top" it (in a negative sort of way).
Yuck.
Yeah baby, I'm in!!!!
Now it's starting to come out...HE WAS JOKING, relating to his earlier mocking of the gay group sex decision in Europe. Relax, people.
Supreme Court justice gets racy on talk circuit
- GINA HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer
Friday, October 1, 2004
(10-01) 12:40 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's recent speeches have ventured into some surprising territory, with the staunchly conservative father of nine joking about sexual orgies.
Scalia is known for a biting humor and is entertaining on the talk circuit and on the bench during the court's argument sessions.
He raised some eyebrows with a speech this week at Harvard University, however, with a comment about the number of people needed for group sex and the jest that "sexual orgies eliminate social tensions and ought to be encouraged."
He made a similar remark in a speech Sept. 20 in Washington, to chuckles from the crowd at the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center, while making the point that judges can have personal moral judgments. It is not judges' role to impose them on citizens, he said.
"Let me make it clear that the problem I am addressing is not the social evil of the judicial dispositions I have described. I accept, for the sake of argument, for example, that sexual orgies eliminate social tension and ought to be encouraged," Scalia said with a smile.
The 68-year-old was named to the Supreme Court in 1986 by President Reagan, and President Bush has said that Scalia is one of the justices he admires most.
A Harvard Law School graduate, he was invited to Cambridge, Mass., and spoke Tuesday to a packed auditorium.
According to The Harvard Crimson newspaper, Scalia ridiculed a European court decision that struck down British legislation barring group gay sex on the ground that the law intruded upon private life. He asked rhetorically and very much tongue-in-cheek how many people it takes for such sex.
"Presumably it is some number between five and the number of people required to fill the Coliseum," Scalia said, according to the newspaper.
On a more serious note, Scalia was asked if he had any gay friends. Scalia said he probably does, but he's never "pressed the point."
He was probably telling a joke.
Yeah, who else is feeling, uh, tense, tonight?
And all these years I have been stressed out while thinking a hot cup of coffee and a smoke after a long walk with the dog was washing away my tensions and stress! : (
"Even if we accept the questionable hypothesis that orgies reduce social tension, nonetheless government can still ban them, on the grounds of health, hygiene, morality etc. "
Justice Scalia argues that the government should be able to regulate sexual and moral relations via anti-sodomy laws. He further has asserted that such regulation does not intrude on any constitutional rights (specifically the "right to privacy", which Scalia thinks is a fictional).
Remember, Scalia has forcefully argued that the government is entitled to define the franchise of marriage as being only a man & a woman.
Scalia is opposing libertarianism. Nothing more.
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