March 2, 2006
THE REVEREND DOBSON GETS HIS MAN:
Alito's Note to Evangelist Is Called Just Thanks (DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK, 3/02/06, NY Times)
In his first weeks on the Supreme Court, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. sent a note to Dr. James C. Dobson, the influential Christian conservative, thanking him for his support and vowing that "as long as I serve on the Supreme Court, I will keep in mind the trust that has been placed in me," Dr. Dobson said Wednesday in a radio broadcast.
One interesting religious dynamic, playing out as the monotheisms converge, is that the Evangelical leadership trusts Catholic lawyers to not go Washington on the bench more than it does fellow Evangelicals. Posted by Orrin Judd at March 2, 2006 8:54 AM
Justice Sam Alito sent Dr. Dobson a Thank You Note (how fuddy-duddy)?!
Evidence of a vast right-wing conspiracy, I tell you.
Posted by: Brad S at March 2, 2006 9:03 AMIn terms of future media coverage on any controversal decision, you might as well change the new appointee's name right now to Supreme Court Justice Sam Alito-who-wrote-a-thank-you-letter-to-James-Dobson.
Posted by: John at March 2, 2006 9:12 AMFor a reasonably well-educated person with any familiarity with the history of western civilization, it takes some interesting mental gymnastics to be simultaneously a free-church evangelical Protestant and a rock-ribbed conservative devotee of the original meaning of the constitution and laws. There's a fair chance one or the other will give. If the Justice turns Papist, the Republic will endure. If the Justice turns squishy-pink, big problem.
Posted by: Random Lawyer at March 2, 2006 9:45 AMAh, but the beauty is that America changed the Church. Even the Pope is a Tocquevillian.
Posted by: oj at March 2, 2006 9:49 AMThe irony is that Dobson is one of those evangelicals who is "going Washington" (obsessing with tactics, becoming a 'personality', putting politics before faith, etc). A few more years and he'll be sounding just like Pat Robertson. And be just as irrelevant.
Posted by: Gideon at March 2, 2006 11:34 AMWhere's Alito's thank you note to Wayne LaPierre? The NRA backed the Court takeover, big time.
Posted by: Lou Gots at March 2, 2006 12:32 PMI'm still waiting for my t.y. note.
Posted by: obc at March 2, 2006 1:04 PMThe lefties will come to regret their deomonization of Alito, since it appears that, now that he has a life appointment, he is prepared to repay them by sticking it to them.
Posted by: GER at March 2, 2006 6:40 PM