Scalia says Liberal Judges have improperly established abortion rights

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on Sunday during a debate with American Civil Liberties Union President Nadine Strossen said that liberal judges have inappropriately established rights such as abortion, the AP/ABC News reports (Yen, AP/ABC News, 10/15).

Speaking to an audience of 1,500 ACLU members during an hour-long debate, Scalia said that "nobody ever thought" abortion rights and gay rights "had been included in the rights contained in the Bill of Rights, which is why abortion and homosexual sodomy were criminal for 200 years."

He added, "My job, as I see it, is to preserve the original meaning of the Constitution" and not decide whether a law "is a good idea or a bad idea" (Savage, Los Angeles Times, 10/16).

Scalia has said that Roe v. Wade -- the 1973 Supreme Court case that effectively barred state abortion bans -- was improperly decided (Vicini, Reuters, 10/15).

He also said that abortion rights should be left up to legislators (Biskupic, USA Today, 10/15).

"On controversial issues on stuff like homosexual rights, abortion, we debate each other and persuade each other and vote on it either through representatives or a constitutional amendment," Scalia said (AP/ABC News, 10/15).

The complete panel discussion aired on C-SPAN and is available online in RealPlayer. Archived C-SPAN materials are available for about 15 days after the broadcast.