Wednesday, October 17, 1934
Pago 4
Daily Ncbraskan
Court to rule on nativity scene
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9 .1
i
fTri he Supreme Court said Mon-
day it will decide whether
JL or not a community can be
forced to provide public land for
nativity scenes at Christmas time.
Last March the court ruled
that communities could sponsor
nativity scenes. The case now at
hand concerns whether or not free
speech is violated when nativity
scenes are prohibited from pub
lic land on which other displays
are allowed.
In last March's case, the court
ruled 5 to 4 that a small town did
not violate the separation of
church and state required by the
constitution when it included a
creche in its Christmas decora
tions. That decision Is questionable.
By Including a creche, the town's
government condoned Christian
ity it omitted the trappings of
Hanukkah and the decorations
of a myriad of other religions
Americans belong to. Clearly,
government should not display
the creche. It is preferential, and
the tax dollars of many different
people with different religious
backgrounds would support it.
The more recent case, which
might not be decided until some
time in 1&S5, involves a public
area called Bonifice Circle in
Scarsdale, N.V. The community
allowed a nativity scene to be
displayed In the circle until grow
ing protests from Jewish organi
zations and other groups con
vinced the village board to ban
them.
Then some area residents sued
the board over the ban, saying it
violated their right to free speech
and expression. The case has
bounced around In the courts
since 1982 hopefully it will be
resolved before Christmas 1985.
The creche or Nativity scene
should be allowed In the Circle. If
community or church members
buy it and put it up, then they
arent violating the separation of
church and state, even If It b on
public ground. However, In order
for that to be true, any religious
organization must have access to
the circle. American Indians
should be allowed to display any
trappings of Indian religion, Jews
should be able to display symbols
dhbts should have access to the
ground.
This ye2.rrthe order not to dis
play the Nativity scene will stand.
The Supreme Court will probably
allow the scene to ba displayed if
their last decision was any indi
cator. It's unfortunate however,
that the community sponsored
scene will be cn display this year.
It's bad policy for government to
sponsor religious displays any
where, any time. Religion should
be teft entirely to the people.
mm
eaganj
ince the Great Debates, President
Reagan and Walter Mondale have
traded petty slams faster than
Sparky Anderson trades pitchers.
Reagan's flunkies say they've come out
with their dukes up now. This is the first
time in the whole campaign that they've
taken Mondale seriously, they say.
So Reagan tells yuck-yucks about Mon-
nes take Mondale seriously now
Mon
Coppelman
S!RPOlMtOT
dale's makeup and challenges that young
rapscallion to a wrestling match any
time the wimp's up to it, that is.
Pretty serious stuff. But the thorniest
issue in the president's side is leadership.
Mondale picked up a few points in the
polls this week, so it's time to drag out
Reagan's flagging inspirational quotes
and run them up the pole again.
He's the coach, and America is his
team. If we pull together, we can beat
inflation, whip communism, crush inter
est rates, bury unemployment.
We can win this one for the Gipper.
Well, it wasn't long before Mondale
slammed back. Reagan's not a coach, he's
a cheerleader in this great game of Life,
Mondale said. And all the rah-rahs Rea
gan can muster won't change the out
come. You see, like any dimwit be-skirted
cheerleader, Ronnie doesn't have the
game plan.
Well, I don't know about all that, but I
do think cheerleaders play a bigger role in
sporting events than Mondale gives them
credit for. Their cheers symbolize team
spirit, determination and the coach's ulti
mate goal victory.
So I thought up some cheers for Rea
gan that I think show his enthusiasm and
overall game philosophy.
First, general all-purpose patriotic
cheers:
"We are Americans, couldn t beprouder,
For our team we'll yell a little louder!"
"We arc the capitalists, mighty mighty
! 019 FOB
mo
mm
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capitalists, really loud and youll be swept-up in emo- "We can, we can, we can do
Every where we go-o, people want to tion.too: We can nuke your grannies, too.
know-ow "ye missiles, yes we do. But let's nt forget the Southern Hem-
Viho we are, so we tell them ...WE TAX We you? isphere:
THE POOR!"
"fin libit tha P.I A vhnnt Vwi chmnt "fin IlnmAtirrtlt.
Speaking of taxes, here's some cheers Do like the FBI, Jink on em' fink on 'em. " H-O-ND- U-R-A-S! ' '
r more domestic problems. Like high "Nuke em hmh mil i. "Marcos, Marcos, ke
NuIcp. 'em til their Can he do it Sure he can!
for
interest rates
"5 percent, W percent, 20 foreclose,
high, nuke 'em low.
u mexr noses glow.
The subject of nuclear arms leads us to
$ our man.
But first Reagan has to win the elec-
NoneyWeVtateyMrcbmesr Uk !iS,SS
Atrmionandten.doitagainr After , talks: theWS'058'
Or crime: "B E A T beat 'em, beat 'em. "Nuts and bolts, nuts ard bolts,
"Lean to the right! Lean to the right! B-ILS-Tbust 'em, bust 'em. we got screwed j
Buy a handgun, fight, fight, fight! Beat km. bust 'em, that's our custom. "That all rU&L thot& OK ' : . .1
A .A J a. 1 J 1 a. ! ' i . . . r. ll A . . . - TTWr Ml I 1 9 9 uitWo
Aiia icr i n use wno goudc ine necessity myjeiivw jimertcaTis, you can not trust we uomo your oia lexas wprBMw j
of an arms buildup, shout these cheers them.
anyway.
Liberal justices say colleagues lack restraint
judge's lot is not a happy one. They find impertinent
neonle in front of the bench, f Lord Birkenhead.
.testiiying: "Hiere he was, drunk as a judge." The
judge, interrupting: "You mean drunk as a lord. Birken
head: "Yes, my lord.") And, if you are a U.S. Supreme
Court Justice, there are intolerable people on the bench
next to you.
At least that is the testimony of Justices ihurgood
Georse Will
Marshall John Paul Stevens and Harry Blackmun. They
have recently discarded traditional restraints and pub
licly accused their colleagues (to be precise those who
disagree with them) of lacking appropriate restraint.
(The American Civil Liberties Union has joined the
chorus, saying, "Americans are far less free today than
they were a year ago," but shrill public foolishness i3 an
ACLU tradition.)
The three justices are liberals who have been on the
losing side a lot recently and are not taking it in good
grace. Marshall and Stevens complain that rulings by
the Warren Court are being undermined. However, not
one of that court's landmark rulings has been overturned
or more than marginally circumscribed (as in the "good
faith exception" to the exclusionary rule governing
admissiblity of illegally seized evidence).
Blackmun complains about the court'3 workload, the
absence of comity among the justices and that the
conservatives (meaning, presumably, Warren Burger,
Sandra Day O'Connor, Lewis Powell, William Rehnquist
and Byron White) are going where they want to go "by
hook or by crook." It is an odd complaint coming from
Blackmun, who wrote the most radical and incoherent
major opinion in American constitutional history, the
1973 abortion opinion. It went where Blackmun wanted
to go and did so without serious grounding in the
Constitution, and has generated a flood of work for the
court.
The public campaign by the three unhappy justices is
an example and an exacer bation of the incivility that
Blackmun deplores. Tension and ill will probably are
inevitable in the intense politics and intellectual conflicts
of a small, face-to-face institution like the court. Theo
Uppman of the Baltimore Sun notes that seven of
today's justices have been living in close confinement
with each other for 13 years, a degree of "stagnation
(Lippman's word) unmatched in 170 years.
Tis said that only God can change the court. But
George Washington, wno was, so to speak, present at
creation, nominated 11 justices in an era when the
Court only had six members. FDR, who served 12 years,
nominated eight Justices seven in four years (1937
41). Taft and Jackson nominated six, Lincoln and
Eisenhower five. Carter was the only president to serve a
full four-year term without filling an opening on the
Court.
By this election day, the average age of the court will
be 70 years, and 56 days. But this is only the second
oldest court. On June 2, 1C37, when Justice Van Devan
ter retired at 78, the averts wss 72 years and 52 days. If
use currem justices choose to stay on, God deiers w
their choices, today's ctm'rt. win old as the 1937
Court on Nov. 2, 1086.