The random political thoughts thread (Part Deux)

[Alex]

Originally Posted by JWBear

To deny that those phrases do not include gays and women is changing the definition of the words, not the meaning of the amendment.

I agree. But I also doubt that Scalia (or any other serious person) would claim gays are not included in those terms. What he contests is whether the other parts of the 14th Amendment preclude laws that differentiate gays from other people (or women from men).

For if the argument is that the federal or state governments can not pass any law that treats one group of people (based on any criteria for categorizing at all) differently from any group of people then we've never even come close to applying the constitution correctly on this issue.

And again, part of my larger point. To argue that the constitution does not mandate gay marriage is not to say that there should be no gay marriage. As an upstanding conservative Catholic I'm sure that Scalia is opposed to gay marriage. And I also am pretty sure he'd uphold any laws that the states or federal government may pass that allows for it.

Similarly, while I'm sure that he doesn't feel there is a constitutional requirement for it and he probably would not and did not support passage of the law), he is ok with the federal government making Title 9 compliance a condition for universities receiving federal funds.