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Did Justices' Catholicism Play Part in Abortion Ruling?
The Washington Post ^ | 4/30/07 | Robert Barnes

Posted on 04/30/2007 8:59:22 PM PDT by LdSentinal

Is it significant that the five Supreme Court justices who voted to uphold the federal ban on a controversial abortion procedure also happen to be the court's Roman Catholics?

It is to Tony Auth, the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist for the Philadelphia Inquirer. He drew Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. wearing bishop's miters, and labeled his cartoon "Church and State."

Rosie O'Donnell and Barbara Walters hashed out the issue on "The View," with O'Donnell noting that a majority of the court is Catholic and wondering about "separation of church and state." Walters counseled that "we cannot assume that they did it because they're Catholic."

And the chatter continues, on talk radio and in the blogosphere. In the latter category, no one has stirred it up quite like Geoffrey R. Stone, former dean and now provost of the University of Chicago's law school.

He posted an item titled "Faith-Based Justices" on his school's blog and on Huffington Post. The post was mostly praised by liberal readers at Huffington Post, but set off a free-for-all back home in Chicago on the faculty blog.

Stone's argument was that the decision in Gonzales v. Carhart repudiated the court's previous abortion jurisprudence and offered flimsy reasoning for upholding the federal ban on the procedure opponents call "partial birth," when seven years ago it had rejected a Nebraska law that was "virtually identical."

"What then explains this decision?" he wrote. "Here is a painfully awkward observation: All five justices in the majority in Gonzales are Catholic. The four justices who are either Protestant or Jewish all voted in accord with settled precedent. It is mortifying to have to point this out."

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: abortion; babies; catholic; partialbirth
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1 posted on 04/30/2007 8:59:24 PM PDT by LdSentinal
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To: LdSentinal; monkapotamus; NYer; All

OH I see so the Demos going blame Cathoics for ruling probably they are so out of it LOL!


2 posted on 04/30/2007 9:00:34 PM PDT by SevenofNine ("We are Freepers, all your media belong to us, resistence is futile")
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To: LdSentinal; monkapotamus; NYer; All

OH I see so the Demos going blame Cathoics for ruling probably they are so out of it LOL!


3 posted on 04/30/2007 9:00:44 PM PDT by SevenofNine ("We are Freepers, all your media belong to us, resistence is futile")
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To: LdSentinal
1. The Jewish justices were not voting Jewish law on this.
Actually, the Talmudic ruling gives precedence to the baby at a certain point in labor. If wither a majority of the baby or the head is out, then all means must be taken to save the baby. Otherwise, all means must be taken to save the mother.
2. If Souter and Kennedy switched, would the left have been less annoyed?
4 posted on 04/30/2007 9:03:22 PM PDT by rmlew (It's WW4 and the Left wants to negotiate with Islamists who want to kill us , for their mutual ends)
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To: LdSentinal

If Catholics adopted a conservative agenda, the Democrats would be finished.


5 posted on 04/30/2007 9:04:11 PM PDT by Mad_Tom_Rackham (Elections have consequences.)
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To: LdSentinal

I don’t think it was as much their Catholicism as it was their humanity.

You might as well ask if Ginsberg’s Jewishness had anything to do with HER vote.


6 posted on 04/30/2007 9:04:12 PM PDT by Migraine (...diversity is great... until it happens to YOU...)
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To: rmlew

Notice, one more time, the Rats ignore the issue, instead they attack personally, those on the other side. Someday I hope soon, America needs that little boy to stand up and tell us the Rats don`t have any clothes.


7 posted on 04/30/2007 9:07:38 PM PDT by neverhillorat (HILLORAT WINS, WE ALL LOSE)
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To: SevenofNine

Hmm. More meds and sleep. Call us in the morning.


8 posted on 04/30/2007 9:07:51 PM PDT by TheZMan (That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends...)
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To: LdSentinal

Basics: The left despises and wants to destroy all religion, because morality stands in the ay of their agenda. There is a virulent anti-catholocism at work, but in the end all traditional religions are to be targets. There was no settled precedent for partial birth abortion, and Souter and Ginzberg are left wing radicals, regardless of religion.


9 posted on 04/30/2007 9:09:15 PM PDT by Williams
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To: LdSentinal

NO!


10 posted on 04/30/2007 9:09:27 PM PDT by Fred (Looking Forward to Impeaching the OTHER Clinton)
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To: LdSentinal
I’m a proud Catholic.

This article is a disgrace.

11 posted on 04/30/2007 9:10:36 PM PDT by new yorker 77 (Speaker Pelosi - Three cheers for Amnesty!)
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To: LdSentinal

Sure, it’s because they’re Catholics.

They’re Catholics voting their conscience.

And this is a problem because...?


12 posted on 04/30/2007 9:12:17 PM PDT by Vicomte13 (Le chien aboie; la caravane passe.)
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To: LdSentinal

You don’t have to be Catholic or even religious to see PBA as out and out murder. Even those who tolerate early abortion see PBA as murder.


13 posted on 04/30/2007 9:16:26 PM PDT by umgud ("When seconds count, the police are just 10 minutes away!")
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To: LdSentinal

Who cares? Partial Birth Abortion is banned. Praise God!!!


14 posted on 04/30/2007 9:17:45 PM PDT by no dems (Michele Malkin: She's Ann Coulter with class.)
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To: Migraine
I don’t think it was as much their Catholicism as it was their humanity.

Catholicism is humanity.

Jesus walked into a world that stoned women to death for committing adultery. Most of the world has given that up, since.

15 posted on 04/30/2007 9:18:50 PM PDT by the invisib1e hand (Thank you St. Jude.)
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To: LdSentinal

How come nobody ever says that someone voted for or against something because of their atheism? Just curious.


16 posted on 04/30/2007 9:19:10 PM PDT by Laptop_Ron
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To: LdSentinal

Did Harry Reid’s Mormanism cause him to vote for the measure?


17 posted on 04/30/2007 9:19:26 PM PDT by RWR8189 (Fred Thompson for President)
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To: LdSentinal

I take this only to indicate that Catholics raise their children better... I’m sure is my son or daughter were on the court, they would have voted the same way.


18 posted on 04/30/2007 9:20:15 PM PDT by babygene (Never look into the laser with your last good eye...)
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To: the invisib1e hand

What were they first: human, or Catholic?

That’s all I’m saying.

Not to diminish what you said either. You are right on.


19 posted on 04/30/2007 9:21:00 PM PDT by Migraine (...diversity is great... until it happens to YOU...)
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To: LdSentinal
Did Ginsburg’s feminist background influence her vote?

Did Steven’s dementia influence his vote?

Did Bryer’s liberalism influence his vote?

Did Souter’s gayness influence his vote?

WHY YES IT DID!

20 posted on 04/30/2007 9:22:41 PM PDT by JRochelle (Al Sharpton: Its hard out here for a race pimp.)
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