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| Rep. Barney Frank Should Apologize to Justice Scalia and the Court |
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| Opinion - Editorials | |
| TS-Si | |
| Tuesday, 24 March 2009 09:00 | |
 Washington, DC, USA. Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts breached what had become a polite protocol in Washington that exempts the US Supreme Court from partisan wrangling and personal attacks, by referring to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia as a "homophobe" during an interview with 365Gay.com.Respectful relations between the separate branches of our government are essential to our democracy.
We believe Barney Frank should apologize to Justice Scalia and the rest of the Supreme Court for his intemperate remarks.
Washington, DC, USA. Science observes the universe, records what has occurred, and then develops a testable  theory that can explain those observations and make predictions on future ones.
Albert Einstein was very good at thi...Fair enough, but he also took he opportunity to issue a harsh description of Justice Scalia. "I wouldn't want it to go to the Supreme Court now because that homophobe Antonin Scalia's got too many votes on this current court," Frank said.
Note the slur against other members of the court whose offense might be that they might vote in tandem with what might be Scalia's position and against what Frank proposes as the preferred outcome.
It appears unlikely that Justice Scalia will decide a Gay Marriage case to the liking of Barney Frank and advocates who support Frank's position.
In a prior Court decision, Justice Scalia characterized questions like marriage as "moral" in nature and the province of legislatures, not the courts, with minimal relevance to the Constitution. He has complained about judges deciding questions of morality about which the Constitution is silent, and prefers to leave such questions to the people and their elected officials, who have the option of amending the Constitution. Scalia dissented from a 2003 court ruling that struck down state bans on consensual sodomy and publicly called the Bill of Rights an “afterthought” to the “real Constitution.”
Justice Scalia provides ample stimulus for debate, but does the possibility of an undesired outcome justify Frank's name calling?
No.
TS-Si has spoken on the need for reform to both marriage and civil unions in our editorial, The Overlap Between Civil Unions And Religious Marriage. Our particular perspective is open to debate, of course, but whatever debate occurs should be respectful.
Demonizing the opposition has become standard practice in Washington where dark motives are assigned to even the slightest deviance from what a polical faction views as the one true path. This sort of thing prevents both understanding and mature engagement on the issues. It is particularly distressing to witness a member of Congress obstruct meaningful dialogue and vilify one or more members of the Supreme Court.
If Rep. Frank can't do the right thing, perhaps he should consider the possibility that the people he insulted may well rule on legislation that Frank himself authored.
Barney Frank should make a genuine apology — and quickly — before the situation gets even further out of hand.
 TS-Si.org Editorials convey the official positions of our organization, TS-Si. They do not necessarily reflect the opinion of TS-Si authors, partners, or affiliates. Signed articles by our contributing authors or referenced news sources do not constitute official policy. We welcome your comments. You can use the public form below or send private correspondence via the TS-Si Contact Page. We will not divulge any personal details or place you on a mailing list without your permission. The TS-Si News Service is a collaborative effort by TS-Si.org editors, contributors, and corresponding institutions. Sources can include the cited individuals and organizations, as well as TS-Si.org staff contributions. Articles and news reports do not necessarily convey official positions of TS-Si, its partners, or affiliates. We welcome your comments. Use the form below to leave a public comment or send private correspondence via the TS-Si Contact Page. We will not divulge any personal details or place you on a mailing list without your permission.TS-Si is dedicated to the acceptance, medical treatment, and legal protection of individuals correcting the misalignment of their brains and their anatomical sex, while supporting their transition into society as hormonally reconstituted and surgically corrected citizens.
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