Speaking at Priceton University to promote his new book, Justice Antonin Scalia defended his previous controversial writings on gay rights, and explained to a gay student why he drew a legal analogy between laws banning sodomy to murder and bestiality.
“I don’t think it’s necessary, but I think it’s effective,” Scalia said Monday, in response to a student’s question, according to The Associated Press.
“It’s a form of argument that I thought you would have known, which is called the ‘reduction to the absurd,'” he said. “If we cannot have moral feelings against homosexuality, can we have it against murder? Can we have it against other things?’”
When the student continued to press him, the justice reportedly quipped, “I’m surprised you aren’t persuaded.”
Next spring, the Court will take up cases on the Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8.
