Reply #13: Tradition and public opinion mean nothing [View All]

The text of the Constitution is the only thing that matters. Scalia has said this in dozens of opinions.

The First Amendment prohibits any law "respecting an establishment of religion." Either that means the government cannot favor religion over non-religion, or it means something short of that. There is no amorphous 'tradition' or 'what the American people believe' in this debate. That is precisely the kind of sloppy thinking that Scalia rails against, and here he promulgates it with his smug pretense of moral superiority.

To me, it is rather obvious that things like putting God on our money and having chaplains in Congress violate the Establishment Clause. Nothing Scalia says justifies those things.