The quaint Republican notion that libruls are packing courts with "activist" judges is a great example of that curious old saying, "A fox smells its own hole first."
There's nothing like the display of angry activism displayed by conservative pet justice, Antonin Scalia, yesterday in the Court. A more prejudiced and baggage-laden jurist would be hard to find. The guy is a walking, breathing example of extra-judicial attitude.
He showed it during questioning in a case involving an old cross in the Mojave Desert, planted by veterans years ago to honor war dead. Trouble is, the cross is now on public park land where rules about religious symbols prevail.
Why did the Supremes take a case about this bit of Christian iconography in, as Chief Justice John Roberts put it, "the middle of nowhere"? Maybe it was to give Justice Antonin Scalia a chance to squabble with the ACLU.
"The cross doesn't honor non-Christians who fought in the war?" the Catholic justice asked with incredulity. "I believe that's actually correct," said Peter Eliasberg of the American Civil Liberties Union, the son and grandson of Jewish war veterans.
"Where does it say that?" Scalia demanded to know.
"It doesn't say that," Eliasberg admitted, "but a cross is the predominant symbol of Christianity, and it signifies that Jesus is the son of God and died to redeem mankind for our sins."
This news enraged Scalia. "The cross is the most common symbol of the resting place of the dead," he declared. "What would you have them erect . . . some conglomerate of a cross, a Star of David, and you know, a Muslim half-moon and star?"
"The cross is the most common symbol of the resting place of Christians," Eliasberg corrected. "I have been in Jewish cemeteries. There is never a cross on a tombstone of a Jew."
The audience laughed. "I think that's an outrageous conclusion," Scalia hissed.
