It’s Hard Work Being Scalia
It takes a lot of work to wilfully misinterpret the 14th Amendment but Antonin Scalia is up for the job. Not only does Scalia redefine the word “citizens” to mean men only but he also just skips over the true legislative history of the amendment.
A legitimate professional historian writes:
It’s not even clear Scalia has the legislative history of the 14th Amendment right. Rep. Benjamin Butler was present at the creation, and he believed the 14th Am. had the potential to guarantee equal protection for female citizens. Same with Chief Justice Salmon Chase, who affirmed a woman’s equal right to practice law in his 1873 dissent in Bradwell v. Illinois. Chase was not only closer than his fellow justices to the men who wrote the Amendment, he was much more deeply involved in the debates of the Reconstruction period.
I’d go stronger. Scalia is clearly mistaken about the legislative history. He said “Nobody ever thought that that’s what it meant. Nobody ever voted for that.” Clearly at least some people thought that.
I guess Scalia’s founding fathers ouija board is broken.
Scalia’s view that women and homosexuals in the USA are not constitutional citizens and persons should be grounds for impeachment.
Impeach this loon.
Then if Scalia is wrong why was the Chase opinion in the minority? Why was there a push for the ERA if the 14th amendment already did it?
The fact is the 14th amendment applies equally to all citizens. You cannot pass a law that deprives women of civil liberties or property on the basis of their being women and it passes constitutional muster. You cannot say for example that women can’t use water fountains or ride a bus they pay for. You cannot say that women alone have to have a literacy test. However certain things like women in combat or other issues which are not rights which have reasonable basis can pass muster. Some things only apply to women because they are women like harming children in the womb while taking drugs.
He is correct to a degree. I would have to study his arguments and case law to know where he may differ, but his views are actually the prevailing view to some degree. Where the line is drawn varies. It is a far cry from saying that he doesn’t believe it applies to a group of people like women.
For the record, Chase may have been right just like Harlan was, but the allegation was that Scalia was out of the mainstream. He is not.