The Jewish Week12 November, 2013
On Circumcision, Scalia Surprises
by Gabe Kahn
Longest-serving justice and interlocutors agree on most issues at YU conversation between former classmates.
A hero to many in the Orthodox community on matters relating to the
separation of church and state, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s
comments on circumcision at a Yeshiva University forum last Wednesday
night may have come as an unpleasant surprise to those who think the
justice’s opinions flow from his own religious beliefs.
How would he have ruled, he was asked by attorney Nathan Lewin, had a
2011 attempt to criminalize circumcision in San Francisco succeeded and
eventually made its way to the high court?
“
If the practice is something that society does
not want, and it’s not intended to discriminate against Jews in
particular, I think the law is perfectly valid,” he said to a
crowd somewhat mystified by how incongruous the remark seemed in the
context of Scalia’s other church-state comments.
[Not just a practice "that society does not
want", infant circumcision flies in the face of international
conventions on human and children's rights, and international and
national law.]
...
Scalia and Lewin did not agree on the legality of a ban on circumcision, however. ...
Shuli Karkowski, a graduate of Harvard Law in attendance, said she
was impressed by Scalia’s honesty, especially considering that not all
of his opinions were popular with the audience.
“Even when I don’t agree with Justice Scalia, I think he takes both a
consistent and principled approach,” she said. “I’m surprised that he
said how he would rule in the bris case. Most justices are disinclined
to speak on any matter that could possibly come before the court.”
...
