Legal Protections Quotes
Essentially, Scalia held that it was the job of the legislature to correct evils of society that he felt were not specifically mentioned in the Constitution. Other justices have argued that if the things are so evil and serious that they deny an individual the rights that were mentioned in the Constitutional, then they might be unconstitutional.
See George Mason for the contrary view. {606646}
Goldsmith headed the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel—the office that makes legal opinions to guide the Federal Government’s conduct. Goldstein had been asked to render an opinion as to whether terrorists captured in the Iraq War were protected by the Geneva Conventions. The Justice Department staff had concluded that all Iraq civilians were covered including terrorists and insurgents. He was called to meeting at the White House with the President’s and Vice President’s counsels. When Goldsmith revealed the Justice Department conclusion, Addington grew agitated and made this response. The quotation provides insight into the operations of the George W. Bush White House and its relationship with the rest of the government.
While in general this is a reasonable view. The Supreme Court is supposed to deal with the big issues of the law. However, in this case, the “fact” was very strong evidence that another person committed a murder and not the man who was convicted. He even confessed. How critics asked could it be constitutional to execute an innocent man. See {635414} for one of the sharpest dissents in court history.
