TYGER BURNING NONE TOO BRIGHT :

Wilentz's Fabricated Scalia : The Princeton historian outdoes himself. (Peter Berkowitz, July 11, 2002, National Review)

Wilentz, who directs Princeton's American Studies Program, centered his attack around remarks that Justice Scalia delivered in February at a conference on the death penalty at the University of Chicago, subsequently published under the title "God's Justice and Ours" in the May 2002 issue of First Things. According to Wilentz, "Justice Scalia's remarks show bitterness against democracy, strong dislike for the Constitution's approach to religion and eager advocacy for the submission of the individual to the state." Yet while he insists that Justice Scalia's "writings deserve careful attention," almost everything Wilentz writes about Justice Scalia's published remarks is wrong. In fact, Justice Scalia shows respect for democracy by identifying some of its self-destructive tendencies and suggesting remedies; embraces the Constitution's approach to religion, as opposed to the condescending and uncomprehending approach to religion that he finds rampant among contemporary intellectuals; and, far from advocating submissiveness, insists that citizens engage in politics to change laws they think immoral, and if ultimately necessary, revolt.

Qiao Yang found this excellent defense of justice Scalia from the inane and antihistorical attack by Sean Wilentz that we mentioned on Monday. Posted by Orrin Judd at July 13, 2002 6:01 AM