Justice Scalia: Abortion Issue Not Constitutional

NewsMax ^ | 10/21/06 | AP

[wagglebee]

Deeply controversial issues like abortion and suicide rights have nothing to do with the Constitution, and unelected judges too often choose to find new rights at the expense of the democratic process, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said Saturday.

Scalia, during a talk on the judiciary sponsored by the National Italian American Foundation, dismissed the idea of judicial independence as an absolute virtue. He noted that dozens of states, since the mid-1800s, have chosen to let citizens elect their judges.

"You talk about independence as though it is unquestionably and unqualifiably a good thing," Scalia said. "It may not be. It depends on what your courts are doing."

Scalia added, "The more your courts become policy-makers, the less sense it makes to have them entirely independent."

Scalia, a leading conservative voice after 20 years on the court, said people naturally get upset with the growing number of cases in which a federal court intrudes on social issues better handled by the political process.

"Take the abortion issue," he said. "Whichever side wins, in the courts, the other side feels cheated. I mean, you know, there's something to be said for both sides."

"The court could have said, 'No, thank you.' The court have said, you know, 'There is nothing in the Constitution on the abortion issue for either side,'" Scalia said. "It could have said the same thing about suicide, it could have said the same thing about . . . you know, all the social issues the courts are now taking."

Scalia said courts didn't use to decide social issues like that.

"It is part of the new philosophy of the Constitution," he said. "And when you push the courts into that, and when they leap into it, they make themselves politically controversial. And that's what places their independence at risk."

Justice Samuel Alito Jr., the newest member of the Supreme Court, agreed that "the same thing exists, but to a lesser degree, with the lower courts."

[Prost1]

Exactly. Enforce the 10th Amendment!

And curb the Commerce Clause interpretation!

[Bellflower]

No other right is possible without life. The right to life is therefore implicit in the constitution. How could anyone doubt it?

[TBP]

One could argue that the Constitutional provision prohibiting the taking of a human life without due process of law, while allowing for capital punishment, prohibitws abortion.

[Arizona Carolyn]

If the 'polls' are correct 60% of American's are anti-abortion. Perhaps this is the right time to put it to a vote.

[EternalVigilance]

'There is nothing in the Constitution on the abortion issue for either side,'" Scalia said.

Hey, Mr. Justice, is there anything in there for unborn Americans...our posterity?

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Looks to me like our posterity, children unborn, have an equal claim to the blessings of Liberty as me or him or any other American...

I fear for America when I think that this is coming from nearly the best judge we've got on the SC.

[EternalVigilance]

If the 'polls' are correct 60% of American's are anti-abortion. Perhaps this is the right time to put it to a vote.

South Dakota is, this November 7th. Their legislature and Governor have already outlawed abortions in their state, by overwhelming margins, including almost half the Dems.

But, through the expenditure of millions of dollars by the NARAL/Planned Barrenhood abortion butchers, they managed to refer the law to the ballot.

There isn't a more important thing on the ballot in America this election.

Abortion war puts South Dakota at 'ground zero'

[EternalVigilance]

The U.S. Constitution:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

jus·tice (jŭs'tĭs)
n.

1. The quality of being just; fairness.
2. 1. The principle of moral rightness; equity.
   2. Conformity to moral rightness in action or attitude; righteousness.
3. 1. The upholding of what is just, especially fair treatment and due reward in accordance with honor, standards, or law.
   2. Law. The administration and procedure of law.
4. Conformity to truth, fact, or sound reason

pos·ter·i·ty (pŏ-stĕr'ĭ-tē)
n.

1. Future generations.
2. All of a person's descendants.

[cpforlife.org]

“Blackmun invented a right to abortion....Roe had nothing whatever to do with constitutional interpretation. The utter emptiness of the opinion has been demonstrated time and again, but that, too, is irrelevant. The decision and its later reaffirmations simply enforce the cultural prejudices of a particular class in American society, nothing more and nothing less. For that reason, Roe is impervious to logical or historical argument; it is what some people, including a majority of the Justices, want, and that is that.

Roe should be overruled and the issue of abortion returned to the moral sense and the democratic choice of the American people. Abortions are killings by private persons. Science and rational demonstration prove that a human exists from the moment of conception. Scalia is quite right that the Constitution has nothing to say about abortion.
--Robert H. Bork
Constitutional Persons: An Exchange on Abortion
Robert H. Bork is a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C.

[TAdams8591]

It's up to the courts to undo the damage, though I favor an amendment to the constitution as well. The constitution should protect the most basic of rights, the right to life.

[RebekahT]

Would it be constitutional for a state to legalize murder or rape?

[Defiant]

I think that states are allowed to regulate abortion at any stage, but there is another question that must be decided as a constitutional issue--whether and when the unborn baby acquires due process rights to life. If the baby has rights under the constitution, states could not allow mothers to take them away, any more than states could allow mothers to kill their babies after they are born.

[Norman Bates]

There is no contradiction between conservatism and moral authority; between conservatism and correct judgment. To do the right thing is correct. To do the wrong thing is incorrect.

True conservatism is the rejection of ideology.

[TeleStraightShooter]

"It is part of the new philosophy of the Constitution," he said. "And when you push the courts into that, and when they leap into it, they make themselves politically controversial. And that's what places their independence at risk."

My Tagline

[F.J. Mitchell]

Now Blackmun is probably one of some Muslim's 72 virgins in hell.

[WOSG]

Hey, is that Dustin Hoffman in drag? Could have sworn it's a 'Tootsie' lookalike!

[cpforlife.org]

Which would be justice IMO.

[Gelato]

Interesting that the courts arbitrarily pick and choose when to ignore the Preamble. More than any other item from our history, the Preamble is the greatest guide to constitutional interpretation.

Scalia has no basis for his claim, when one of the stated purposes of the Constitution is to preserve the right of our posterity to live. Further, as your post highlights, the notion of justice in our federal Constitution obviously cannot be achieved if any state legislatively condones the killing of the unborn.

States have no more prerogative to legalize abortion--the taking of innocent human life--than they did to uphold slavery. These injustices are intolerable contradictions to American liberty.

[Lexinom]

If you, and others are interested in forcing the issue (a good thing), give whatever you can to the South Dakota effort. It's neck-and-neck in the polls. Five years or so down the road it will end up in the SCOTUS. By then, there should be another new face on the court, hopefully on the Constitution's side.

That is a real, tangible thing we can all do, at this moment, to change things.

[Lexinom]

I tend to agree with you because the similarities between abortion and slavery are so striking. However, pragmatically moving it to the states would be a HUGE improvement over current federal policy. At least then pro-life efforts could be concentrated in individual states, as they are now in South Dakota - possibly the only chance of our lifetimes to overturn Roe.