Roman Catholics believe Justice Anthony Kennedy went off the rail? Diversity means relaxed moral and ethical standards? Same-sex marriage damages civil society? Guess so:
Archbishop Jerome Listecki of Milwaukee, and bishops in Madison, La Crosse, Green Bay and Superior ... said they "are troubled by the assessment that Gordon Giampietro is not receiving a fair hearing because of his Catholic faith. The teachings of the Catholic Church in the areas of marriage, family life and human sexuality are very clear. Catholic's (sic) who practice their faith understand and are able to articulate them. We believe that Catholics are capable of offering fair and impartial decisions when applying the law."
What did he say?
Bigots are Unbiased and Fair, and not really bigots, even if they have to say so themselves?1. Giampietro said Justice Anthony Kennedy's ruling, "It's not really legal reasoning" that Kennedy "went off the rails years ago" in a decision striking down sodomy laws.
2. On March 25, 2014, Giampietro wrote that “calls for diversity” are “code for relaxed standards (moral and intellectual).”
3. In a July 24, 2015, interview on (faith radio's) “The Lydia LoCoco Show,” Giampietro was sharply critical of the Supreme Court decision affirming the right to same-sex marriage ... “worse” than the court’s Roe vs. Wade “because of the damage it does to civil society.”
4. In the same interview, he took aim at birth control pills, describing them as "an assault on nature."
Commission member, Rick Esenberg, defended Giampietro and said the nominee did not have bigoted views. "You may disagree with the position of the Roman Catholic Church with respect to the nature of marriage, but the other thing Gordon has made clear is if he sits as a judge, he'll apply the law and not his personal religious views."Sen. Tammy Baldwin has it right, again:
A spokeswoman for Baldwin said adding that the senator's objections to the nominee have nothing to do with his Catholic faith:“These extremely troubling statements were not provided to the (commission) when it considered candidates for this vacancy. Both what was said, and the fact that it was not disclosed to the commission, raise serious questions about whether this nominee would be able to serve as a fair and impartial judge on a federal court.”
Republicans in Wisconsin have a fantastic turn-out operation precisely because of the religious right, rightwing Catholics, Evangelicals, and other fundies.
ReplyDeleteYou'll notice the early returns in a given satewide election as the results come in from rural Wisconsin, and it's always Republican.
I used to have sources on the religious right, I let em slide, but one source would show me the lit she received. For a line of investigation, the specific avenues, (mailing lists and so forth), used by Republicans is a story that needs to be told.