Scalia in 2011: Constitution does not protect women against discrimination
Posted at 9:08 AM ET, 01/ 4/2011
Scalia: Constitution does not protect women against discrimination
By Emi Kolawole
Justice Antonin Scalia has weighed in on the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, leaving women's rights activists seething.
In an interview with California Lawyer, Scalia said that the Constitution itself does not protect women and gay men and lesbians from discrimination. Such protections are up to the legislative branch, he said.
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?
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2011/01/scalia-constitution-does-not-p.html