Scalia: Judge Selection Has Become Too Political

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, Feb. 13 — Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia told a University of Pennsylvania audience the selection of judges has descended into the political arena, to the detriment of legal scholarship and honest constitutional interpretation, the Associated Press reported.

The culprit, according to Scalia, is the recent notion that the Constitution should be periodically reinvented to suit contemporary attitudes. Pointing out that approximately six of 13 federal courts are operating at less than full strength, Scalia lamented the politicization of judicial nomination and confirmation proceedings.

Calling himself an “originalist,” Scalia insisted the Constitution's literal, original meaning is the one judges should seek to discover and apply. If more judges took that approach, he said, politicians would be less intrusive into the judicial realm.

“We're not looking for good lawyers anymore,” Scalia said. “The most important thing we look for are judges who will read into the Constitution the rights that we like and read out of the Constitution the rights that we don't like.”

Scalia, a Catholic, has cited the Roe v. Wade decision as an example of judicial activism.

Group Targets Pro-Abortion Speakers at Churches

AMERICAN LIFE LEAGUE, Feb. 13 — The Crusade for the Defense of Our Catholic Church, a project of the Catholic pro-life group American Life League, released a new public service ad focused on pro-abortion speakers who appear at Catholic churches.

The ad was sparked by Feb. 9 talk given by Democratic presidential candidate Al Sharpton at a Chicago parish during Mass.

The full-page ad ran in the Washington Times and several other newspapers. It was aimed at Catholic pastors and featured a picture of Sharpton with the caption, “Al Sharpton is not a Catholic priest!”

Also shown were five other pro-abortion Democratic presidential candidates: Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.; Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn.; Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C.; Rep. Richard Gephardt, D-Mo.; and Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, a Democrat.

The ad explained that these candidates’ positions on abortion meant they should be “disqualified from delivering homilies.”

According to American Life League, a copy of the ad has been sent to the entire U.S. hierarchy of bishops.

Columnist Calls for Lay Preachers in Church

NEWSDAY, Feb. 17 — Columnist Bob Keeler of the Long Island, N.Y., daily Newsday pointed to the recent sex abuse scandal in the American Church as evidence that laymen should sometimes supplant clergy in the pulpit, delivering sermons.

In a recent column, Keeler suggested the lack of “prudence” and “justice” displayed by some bishops in handling abusive clergy — plus the fact that “talent is randomly distributed” — meant that talented laymen should sometimes be dubbed to deliver homilies, a practice forbidden by canon law.