Posted by Orin Kerr:
Welcome to NYU, Justice Scalia:
Justice Antonin Scalia recently visited NYU Law School, and if press
reports are any guide the welcome was rather mixed. According to
[1]this story, Scalia visited NYU to receive an honor from the student
members of the NYU Annual Survey of American Law, a law journal. While
at the law school, the Justice gave a question-and-answer session that
was met with insults inside the room and a protest outside the room.
The insult during the Q-and-A session has been widely reported
online. Law student Eric Berndt, upset with Justice Scalia's oral
argument questions and dissenting opinion in [2]Lawrence v. Texas,
asked the Justice: "Do you sodomize your wife?" [3]Underneath Their
Robes has an eyewitness report:
There was this loud collective gasp from the audience, and for
about 5 seconds Scalia stared at the questioner - I wasn't sure
whether he was in shock like the rest of us, or whether he was
going to come down from the podium and throttle the guy. He finally
got a hold of himself and said he wasn't going to answer that and
tried to move on to the next question, but for about 30 seconds the
guy kept on badgering him and Scalia kept on trying to move to the
next question, which he finally did.
[4]Wonkette reproduces an e-mail from Mr. Berndt explaining that his
goal was to punish, embarrass, and dehumanize Justice Scalia for his
allegedly bigoted views -- what Mr. Berndt describes as an "act of
resistence" against Justice Scalia's refusal to recognize his dignity.
A protest against Justice Scalia followed the Q-and-A:
A planned protest in Washington Square Park followed the Q-and-A,
which drew activists from OUTLaw, an organization of LGBT law
students, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the NYU Black
Allied Law Students Association and the NYC Chapter of the National
Organization of Women. The group held signs that read "Scalia Go
Home To the Dark Ages" and "Repeal Scalia," and wore homemade
t-shirts reading "Scalia Not My Chief Justice."
"Gifted people can either use their talents to help other people
or hurt other people," said Bert Leatherman, a law student and the
protest's organizer. "We all agree that Scalia has used his gifts
to hurt people."
After listening to brief speeches around the fountain, the group
organized and marched to Vanderbilt Hall, the law school building.
The group stood inside the school's courtyard and chanted "Sexist,
Racist, Anti-Gay, Nino, Nino, Go Away!"
"Scalia has got such a backwards world view and he wields so much
power," said Dave Hancock, a Gallatin sophomore who joined the
protest mid-march. "To be honored at a so-called progressive school
is sickening."
Unsatisfied with the effect of their protest, the group quickly
moved outside the law school and onto the corner of West 4th and
MacDougal streets. They surrounded the first-floor room in which
Scalia was receiving his honor and continued to chant and wave
signs at bystanders. Some protesters wrote "Honk 4 Justice" on the
back of their signs instigating cabs and cars to increase the noise
volume.
While I have some thoughts about this, I would be much more
interested to find out what VC readers think. To that end, I have
enabled comments -- please comment away. As always, though, please
keep it civil and on-point. I repeat: civil and on-point. Any rude or
irrelevant comments will be deleted.
References
1. http://www.nyunews.com/news/campus/9405.html
2.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=000&invol=02-102
3. http://underneaththeirrobes.blogs.com/main/2005/04/judicial_sighta_3.html
4.
http://www.wonkette.com/politics/about/index.php#scalia-subjected-to-probing-question-the-aftermath-040057
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