SCOTUS Justice Antonin Scalia in Rear-End incident

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia caused an accident yesterday:

The Supreme Court justice was ticketed early Tuesday for his role in a four-car fender-bender. No injuries to anyone but the cars — including Scalia’s, which had to be towed.

The accident happened just before 9 a.m. on what was to be a big day for the jurist: The nation’s highest court was hearing arguments in the massive Wal-Mart gender discrimination case. According to U.S. Park Police, Scalia was driving south on the parkway approaching Roosevelt Bridge when he rear-ended a car that had stopped for traffic, triggering a chain reaction.

Brooke Salkoff saw it all go down. The former NBC reporter told us she was just behind Scalia’s vehicle, a shiny black BMW in the left lane. “It slammed into the car in front of his, which pushed the other two forward,” and caused them all to skew into the right lane, she said.

Scalia made it to court on time for 10am arguments.

Scalia: Women, Gays Have No Constitutional Protection Against Discrimination

Via Pam Spaulding comes this bit from a California Lawyer interview with Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia asserting that women and gay people don't have constitutional protection against discrimination.

In 1868, when the 39th Congress was debating and ultimately proposing the 14th Amendment, I don't think anybody would have thought that equal protection applied to sex discrimination, or certainly not to sexual orientation. So does that mean that we've gone off in error by applying the 14th Amendment to both?

Yes, yes. Sorry, to tell you that. ... But, you know, if indeed the current society has come to different views, that's fine. You do not need the Constitution to reflect the wishes of the current society. Certainly the Constitution does not require discrimination on the basis of sex. The only issue is whether it prohibits it. It doesn't. Nobody ever thought that that's what it meant. Nobody ever voted for that. If the current society wants to outlaw discrimination by sex, hey we have things called legislatures, and they enact things called laws. You don't need a constitution to keep things up-to-date. All you need is a legislature and a ballot box. You don't like the death penalty anymore, that's fine. You want a right to abortion? There's nothing in the Constitution about that. But that doesn't mean you cannot prohibit it. Persuade your fellow citizens it's a good idea and pass a law. That's what democracy is all about. It's not about nine superannuated judges who have been there too long, imposing these demands on society.

What do you do when the original meaning of a constitutional provision is either in doubt or is unknown?

I do not pretend that originalism is perfect. There are some questions you have no easy answer to, and you have to take your best shot. ... We don't have the answer to everything, but by God we have an answer to a lot of stuff ... especially the most controversial: whether the death penalty is unconstitutional, whether there's a constitutional right to abortion, to suicide, and I could go on. All the most controversial stuff. ... I don't even have to read the briefs, for Pete's sake.

Said Marcia Greenberger, founder and co-president of the National Women's Law Center, in response:

"In these comments, Justice Scalia says if Congress wants to protect laws that prohibit sex discrimination, that's up to them. But what if they want to pass laws that discriminate? Then he says that there's nothing the court will do to protect women from government-sanctioned discrimination against them. And that's a pretty shocking position to take in 2011. It's especially shocking in light of the decades of precedents and the numbers of justices who have agreed that there is protection in the 14th Amendment against sex discrimination, and struck down many, many laws in many, many areas on the basis of that protection."

Scalia: Constitution Does Not Outlaw Bias Over Sexual Orientation

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia spoke at UC Hastings Law School (which as you may recall was recently involved in a SCOTUS case of its own), and told those assembled that the U.S Constitution does not outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation:

"If the current society wants to outlaw discrimination by sex, you have legislatures," Scalia said during a 90-minute question-and-answer session with a professor at UC Hastings College of the Law. He said the same was true of discrimination against gays and lesbians.

The 74-year-old justice, leader of the court's conservative wing, is also its most outspoken advocate of "originalism," the doctrine that the Constitution should be interpreted according to the original meaning of those who drafted it.

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"Nobody thought it was directed against sex discrimination," he said. Although gender bias "shouldn't exist," he said, the idea that it is constitutionally forbidden is "a modern invention."

The court has not applied the same exacting standard to discrimination based on sexual orientation, an issue it could reach in several cases now in lower courts, including the dispute over California's ban on same-sex marriage.

But when the justices overturned laws against gay sex in 2003 as a violation of personal autonomy and due process, Scalia dissented vehemently. He compared the anti-sodomy laws to statutes against incest and bestiality and said many Americans view bans on homosexual conduct as protections for themselves and their families against "a lifestyle that they believe to be immoral and destructive."

Scalia said Friday he's not a purist and is generally willing to accept long-standing court precedents that contradict his views.

More HERE.

Antonin Scalia Talks Sodomy

At an Ohio State lecture on interpreting the Constitution:

 “My burden is not to show that originalism is perfect but to show that it beats the other available alternatives. Did any provision of the Constitution guarantee a right to abortion? No one thought so for almost two centuries after the founding. Did any provision in the Constitution guarantee a right to homosexual sodomy? Same answer.”

Barney Frank on Homophobia, Larry Craig, Bill O'Reilly, and Bonuses

Lloyd Grove interviews Congressman Barney Frank in The Daily Beast today on a variety of topics.

How does he feel about Larry Craig? "I feel sorry for him."

Why he hit out at Scalia's homophobia: "Oh, it became relevant. People were asking me strategically what I thought, and I said I thought it was better that this [pursuing the constitutionality of gay marriage] was going to be delayed with Scalia still on the court. I have done so from time to time, when there were people acting out of what seems to me a bias, but only if it’s relevant to public policy. I’m not a commentator in general, and I do that when it becomes relevant to a strategic or tactical decision."

And the reaction to his infamous rant with FOX News talker Bill O'Reilly:

"Mostly I heard from people who were sympathetic to me. I do think in that one he got somewhat damaged, and he did apologize for it a couple of times, in an article and elsewhere. Part of it was incredulity. “Why would you go on?” And I said, I think you don’t want to let these things go unrefuted. He’s not invited me back. Ten years ago, I might have reacted more angrily, but I really am able to kind of separate it out. I’m being attacked not because of me personally but as an obstacle to regulate. I just did a fundraiser. I said, OK, they need to get some money, they’ve got to refute some of these things. I’m being attacked by Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Karl Rove—none of these people I respect. Finally to top it off, I was one of the handful criticized by Dick Cheney in his post-vice presidential interview, and I said, my mother was wonderful woman, died three years ago at 92, and I have missed her constantly. But I particularly would’ve liked her to be around when Dick Cheney attacked me, because—I don’t know how good your Yiddish is— she would’ve kvelled at the notion that I’m still haunting Dick Cheney."

Incidentally, O'Reilly also recently commented on that segment in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter after they asked him "what's the angriest he's been" while on the air.

Said O'Reilly: "... the Barney Frank thing (in which O'Reilly called Frank a 'coward' during an October debate over Fannie May and Freddie Mac). But I really wasn't angry; I just needed to scold him because he was blaming everyone else, even though some of this economic mess is his fault...That didn't backfire at all because I don't care if a congressman is re-elected or not. That's not my job. If people in his district like him, that's fine. I'm not trying to get him out of there, I'm trying to hold him accountable. That interview was seen by tens of millions of people, so I held him accountable."

Frank delivered a slamdown of Republicans on the House floor yesterday over the Bonus Ban bill. The Huffpost writes: "The bill at issue, authored by Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), would cap executive compensation at bailed-out financial institutions and it puts the GOP in a tough spot: after expressing outrage over the AIG bonuses, it's tough to vote against the bill."

Watch Frank's rant, AFTER THE JUMP...

News: Provincetown, John Mayer, Jamaica, Willem Dafoe, Zurich

Official boycott launched against Jamaica for persecution of gays.

128 prisoners, many of whom were jailed for the "crime" of homosexuality, are set to be executed in Iraq in the near future: "According to Ali Hili of IRAQI-LGBT, the Iraqi authorities plan to start executing them in batches of 20 from this week. IRAQI-LGBT urgently requests that the UK Government, Human Rights Groups and the United Nations Human Rights Commission intervene with due speed to prevent this tragic miscarriage of justice from going ahead."

John Mayer turns fan cruise into Love Boat.

Recession-era spending: Elton John celebrates 62 at Hamburger Hamlet.

Russia's Gay Pride organizers plan activist tie-in to Eurovision Song Contest awards: We believe this is the best way for those who support democratic values in Europe and who take part in the show to bring support to human rights campaigners in Russia."

Zac Efron attacked by Q-tips.

More on the growing threat to gays in Uganda: "We’ve gotten word from three separate Ugandan sources that local gays and lesbians in Uganda are worried about imminent violence, with many making plans to go into hiding or leave the country."

Jon Stewart talks marriage at University of Vermont: “I can understand being against gay marriage — if they decided to make it mandatory. This isn’t a cultural divide: They’re wrong.”

 Protestors shadow Vermont Governor Jim Douglas in wake of same-sex marriage veto remarks: "Roughly 200 protesters greeted the governor and his wife when they showed up at Green Mountain College for a maple sugaring event Saturday. The crowd watched quietly, sang or chanted while Douglas used a hand-cranked drill to tap a tree in an arboretum decorated with rainbow ribbons."

Madonna determined to adopt again in Malawi...

Zurich, Switzerland has a new lesbian mayor: "Zurich, Switzerland, has elected its first female and first openly lesbian mayor, Corine Mauch. A member of the centre-left Social Democrats, Mauch has been elected with a lead of 11,000 votes over her opposition following the surprise resignation of previous incumbent Elmar Ledergerber late last year."

New York Post says it has seen a video of Vice President Joe Biden's daughter doing cocaine: "The video, which the shooter initially hoped to sell for $2 million before scaling back his price to $400,000, shows a 20-something woman with light skin and long brown hair taking a red straw from her mouth, bending over a desk, inserting the straw into her nostril and snorting lines of white powder."

Marc Jacobs and Lorenzo Martone show their love in Ipanema.

Right Whale mania grips Provincetown... Video...

L.A. Times on Barney Frank accusations: Does Antonin Scalia hate gays?

Gay rights groups want the Royal Family to give the okay for a hypothetical same-sex couple in the Monarchy to be able to engage in a civil partnership: "[Ben Summerskill, chief executive of gay rights group Stonewall] said: ‘I have little doubt that in 21st and 22nd Century Britain the public will judge the quality of their monarch by much more than their sexual orientation.’ He said the subject could be debated openly now because, as far as he was aware, there are no gays in the Royal Family."

Willem Dafoe gets "cheeky" for new Lars von Trier film.

Josh Hartnett rushed to hospital for abdominal pain.

Campaign against homophobic bullying to be launched in Wales: "The new bilingual version of 'The School Report' will be distributed to all secondary schools in Wales. It found 65% of pupils had experienced bullying because of their sexuality. The launch takes place at the Stonewall Cymru annual event in Llandudno. The education minister Jane Hutt said the assembly government was working to develop guidance on anti-gay bullying. 'The Welsh Assembly Government fully supports the launch of 'The School Report' which highlights the vital role schools can play in preventing and responding to homophobic bullying, both within their boundaries but also in the wider community'"

Obamas to pay for White House renovations out of their own pockets: "They 'are not using public funds or accepting donations of goods for redecorating their private quarters,' says Camille Johnston, director of communications for the First Lady. Nor is the couple, who reported $4.2 million in household income in 2007 tax returns, using money from the White House Historical Association, a privately funded foundation that paid for a $74,000 set of china shortly before Laura Bush left town."