February 11, 2002

Scalia: Judges who follow Catholic
view of death penalty should quit
___WASHINGTON (RNS)--Justice Antonin Scalia, a devout Roman Catholic and one of the Supreme Court's most conservative members, said Feb. 4 that judges who follow Catholic teaching against the death penalty should resign.
___Speaking at Georgetown University, Scalia said he strongly disagrees with the church's anti-death penalty teaching and argued that the church historically has supported capital punishment.
___"No authority I know of denies the 2,000-year-old tradition of the church approving capital punishment," he said. "I don't see why there has been a change."
___Asked to reconcile his Catholic faith with his support of the death penalty, Scalia said a Catholic judge with concerns about the death penalty should resign because he or she would not be upholding the laws judges must swear to protect.
___"You couldn't function as a judge," he said.
___At a forum in Chicago Jan. 25, Scalia said judges who refuse to enforce capital punishment are "ignoring duly enacted constitutional laws and sabotaging the death penalty."
___The nine justices on the high court will revisit the death penalty issue Feb. 20 when they hear arguments on whether the execution of mentally retarded inmates is unconstitutional. Scalia has voted repeatedly in favor of capital punishment.

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