Legal News

The Scalia Road Show Talks Religion in Charlottesville

By Ashby Jones

It’s all fine and good, we think, to be embedded in Iraq, but it’d probably be equally interesting to be embedded as a reporter in the Justice Antonin Scalia’s Wonderous Traveling Road Show.

In advance of his book’s arrival, on April 28, Nino’s been pounding the pavement hard, an interesting change of heart for someone who hasn’t shown a ton of love for the media in the past. Scalia is slated to be on 60 Minutes later this month, chatting it up with Lesley Stahl.

His latest stop: UVA School of Law, where he talked a lot on religion and law. (Something we didn’t know: Scalia also reportedly taught at UVA from 1967 to 1971.)

According to the Charlottesville Daily Progress, Scalia criticized the way courts have interpreted the establishment clause of the First Amendment, which forbids laws “respecting an Establishment of Religion.” Rulings that seek to totally separate religion and government, Scalia said, run counter to the Constitution’s meaning. “If you want to enact a statute that says the president can never say ‘God bless America,’ then I have no problem with that,” he said. “Just don’t tell me that the Constitution prohibits it.”

Prayer begins legislative sessions and the convening of court, he pointed out. American currency says “In God We Trust,” he added. “All sorts of things just shout out ‘It’s a lie! It’s a lie!’” he said. “That’s what I’m disturbed about.”

Photo: The Associated Press

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on April 11, 2008 (boomark / email).