oracle
07-11-2002, 03:43 PM
Wilentz’s Fabricated Scalia (http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-berkowitz071102.asp)
The Princeton historian outdoes himself.
Peter Berkowitz
In the fall of 1998, testifying before the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, Princeton historian Sean Wilentz prophesied that history would regard as "zealots" and "fanatics" members who sincerely believed they had good reason to vote to impeach President Clinton. In November 2000, days after the presidential election ended in stalemate, Wilentz assembled a bizarre group (http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/www.tnr.com/112700/berkowitz112700.html) that included some of our nation's top professors of constitutional law (including Bruce Ackerman, Ronald Dworkin, and Cass Sunstein) mixed together with actors and other celebrities (including Robert De Niro, Rosie O'Donnell, and Bianca Jagger) and persuaded them to sign their names to a full-page ad in the New York Times that spoke of Al Gore's having won a "clear constitutional majority of the popular vote," even though the Constitution says nothing about the popular vote in presidential elections and is perfectly clear that victory goes to the candidate who receives the most electoral votes. However, on Monday, in his scurrilous attack on Justice Scalia, "From Justice Scalia, a Chilling Vision of Religion's Authority in America (http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/08/opinion/08WILE.html)," featured on the New York Times op-ed page, Wilentz outdid himself.
Wilentz, who directs Princeton's American Studies Program, centered his attack around remarks that Justice Scalia delivered in February at a conference on the death penalty at the University of Chicago, subsequently published under the title "God's Justice and Ours" in the May 2002 issue of First Things (http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft0205/articles/scalia.html). According to Wilentz, "Justice Scalia's remarks show bitterness against democracy, strong dislike for the Constitution's approach to religion and eager advocacy for the submission of the individual to the state." Yet while he insists that Justice Scalia's "writings deserve careful attention," almost everything Wilentz writes about Justice Scalia's published remarks is wrong. In fact, Justice Scalia shows respect for democracy by identifying some of its self-destructive tendencies and suggesting remedies; embraces the Constitution's approach to religion, as opposed to the condescending and uncomprehending approach to religion that he finds rampant among contemporary intellectuals; and, far from advocating submissiveness, insists that citizens engage in politics to change laws they think immoral, and if ultimately necessary, revolt.
Wilentz's brief against Scalia is littered with perverse misinterpretations and sly errors. Begin with Wilentz's accusation that Justice Scalia views submission as the essence of faith: "Mr. Scalia seems to believe strongly that a person's religious faith is something that he or she (as a Roman Catholic like Mr. Scalia) must take whole from church doctrine and obey." If, however, those writings of Justice Scalia that Wilentz had assured us "deserve careful attention" are any guide, then Justice Scalia actually believes strongly that Catholic faith involves a complicated mixture of obedience and independent judgment. Indeed, Justice Scalia took issue in his published remarks in First Things with the teaching on the death penalty in the encyclical Evangelium Vitae and with Avery Cardinal Dulles's reading of it. By virtue of his analysis of, and dissent from recent Church statements on the death penalty, Scalia actually demonstrates that obedience to Church doctrine can and should be based upon an informed and reasoned encounter with it.
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Click here to read more (http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-berkowitz071102.asp)
The Princeton historian outdoes himself.
Peter Berkowitz
In the fall of 1998, testifying before the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, Princeton historian Sean Wilentz prophesied that history would regard as "zealots" and "fanatics" members who sincerely believed they had good reason to vote to impeach President Clinton. In November 2000, days after the presidential election ended in stalemate, Wilentz assembled a bizarre group (http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/www.tnr.com/112700/berkowitz112700.html) that included some of our nation's top professors of constitutional law (including Bruce Ackerman, Ronald Dworkin, and Cass Sunstein) mixed together with actors and other celebrities (including Robert De Niro, Rosie O'Donnell, and Bianca Jagger) and persuaded them to sign their names to a full-page ad in the New York Times that spoke of Al Gore's having won a "clear constitutional majority of the popular vote," even though the Constitution says nothing about the popular vote in presidential elections and is perfectly clear that victory goes to the candidate who receives the most electoral votes. However, on Monday, in his scurrilous attack on Justice Scalia, "From Justice Scalia, a Chilling Vision of Religion's Authority in America (http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/08/opinion/08WILE.html)," featured on the New York Times op-ed page, Wilentz outdid himself.
Wilentz, who directs Princeton's American Studies Program, centered his attack around remarks that Justice Scalia delivered in February at a conference on the death penalty at the University of Chicago, subsequently published under the title "God's Justice and Ours" in the May 2002 issue of First Things (http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft0205/articles/scalia.html). According to Wilentz, "Justice Scalia's remarks show bitterness against democracy, strong dislike for the Constitution's approach to religion and eager advocacy for the submission of the individual to the state." Yet while he insists that Justice Scalia's "writings deserve careful attention," almost everything Wilentz writes about Justice Scalia's published remarks is wrong. In fact, Justice Scalia shows respect for democracy by identifying some of its self-destructive tendencies and suggesting remedies; embraces the Constitution's approach to religion, as opposed to the condescending and uncomprehending approach to religion that he finds rampant among contemporary intellectuals; and, far from advocating submissiveness, insists that citizens engage in politics to change laws they think immoral, and if ultimately necessary, revolt.
Wilentz's brief against Scalia is littered with perverse misinterpretations and sly errors. Begin with Wilentz's accusation that Justice Scalia views submission as the essence of faith: "Mr. Scalia seems to believe strongly that a person's religious faith is something that he or she (as a Roman Catholic like Mr. Scalia) must take whole from church doctrine and obey." If, however, those writings of Justice Scalia that Wilentz had assured us "deserve careful attention" are any guide, then Justice Scalia actually believes strongly that Catholic faith involves a complicated mixture of obedience and independent judgment. Indeed, Justice Scalia took issue in his published remarks in First Things with the teaching on the death penalty in the encyclical Evangelium Vitae and with Avery Cardinal Dulles's reading of it. By virtue of his analysis of, and dissent from recent Church statements on the death penalty, Scalia actually demonstrates that obedience to Church doctrine can and should be based upon an informed and reasoned encounter with it.
...
Click here to read more (http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-berkowitz071102.asp)