Incest as Progress

By Fay Voshell

Back in 2003*, Justice Antonin Scalia was excoriated as a hate-monger and extreme doomsayer when he wrote the dissent on Lawrence et al. v. Texas, a case which basically overturned sodomy laws on the grounds sexual behavior could not be legislated by appealing to traditional morality. Scalia wrote: State laws against bigamy, same-sex marriage, adult incest, prostitution, masturbation, adultery, fornication, bestiality, and obscenity are likewise sustainable only in light of Bowers' validation of laws based on moral choices. Every single one of these laws is called into question by today's decision; the Court makes no effort to cabin the scope of its decision to exclude them from its holding[...]The impossibility of distinguishing homosexuality from other traditional 'morals' offenses is precisely why Bowers rejected the rational-basis challenge. 'The law,' it said, 'is constantly based on notions of morality, and if all laws representing essentially moral choices are to be invalidated under the Due Process Clause, the courts will be very busy indeed[.] [...] What a massive disruption of the current social.... (Read Full Article)