Scalia states his case for morals
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Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia delivered the keynote address as part of the centennial celebration of the Duquesne University Law School.
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In 25 years on the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Antonin Scalia has earned a reputation for firmly sticking to his beliefs. He encouraged the Duquesne University Law School, during remarks Saturday honoring its 100th anniversary, to do the same.
Justice Scalia, the longest-serving member of the nation's high court, hailed the importance of a moral background in rounding out an education in law and praised Duquesne for its commitment to a notion that, he said, is out of fashion.
"Our educational establishment these days, while so tolerant of and even insistent on diversity in all other aspects of life, seems bent on eliminating the diversity of moral judgment, particularly moral judgment based on religious views," he said.
"I hope this place will not yield, as some Catholic institutions have, to this politically correct insistence upon suppressing moral judgment, to this distorted view of what diversity in America means."
More than 1,200 people, many of them members of the Duquesne Law School faculty and student body, gathered in the A.J. Palumbo Center to hear Justice Scalia deliver a 22-minute keynote address that reflected the humor, intelligence and traditionalism for which he is known.
A devout Catholic who came from humble beginnings in New Jersey to graduate with honors from Georgetown University and Harvard Law School, Justice Scalia said faith and morals are vital complements to an educational environment.
"This has nothing to do with making students better lawyers, but everything to do with making them better men and women," he said. "Moral formation is a respectable goal for any educational institution, even a law school."
Justice Scalia was introduced by Ken Gormley, the dean of the law school, and Duquesne President Charles J. Dougherty.
First Published September 25, 2011 12:00 am
