In a message dated 6/14/2004 11:49:23 AM Eastern Standard Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
did not
force you to discuss the denial of communion aspect of the story.
You did
that yourself when you said:
"This does not mean that I would hesitate
to vote against a president who
asked the Pope to instruct American bishops
to denounce action I approve
of."
The "action that I approve of" in
the context of this story has to be Kerry
taking communion in violation of
Church norms.
I'm afraid the above
fails to observe an elementary distinction between a constitutional issue
and a political or policy issue. I might believe that nothing in the
Constitution prohibits a President from asking the Pope to urge his Bishops to
act in a certain manner while at the same time believing that for political
reasons it is a bad idea. Thus, I might defend a President's
constitutional prerogative to consult with the Pope, but simultaneously
embrace the proposition that guys I want to be president not engage in such
conduct. Similarly, it might be constitutionally permissible for a
President to invade Iraq, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't vote against a
President who does so if my conception of what's right should counsel me to do
so. The ideas of the right and the good are not exhausted by what is
constitutionally permissible.
While I always welcome
"aid[s] [to my] understanding," let me reiterate: what is religiously
proper concerning who should and who should not take communion is entirely
irrelevant to the question of whether the President's conduct in consulting the
Pope is constitutionally permissible. I do not see that the distinction
between the religious question and the constitutional question is in any
way novel, but it is important to adhere to it nonetheless.
Bobby
Robert Justin Lipkin
Widener University School
of Law
Delaware
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