The International Order of Saint Hubertus

Just when all of the outlandish conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia seemed to be fading away, revelations worthy of a conspiracy theory surfaced today. The fact that the 79-year old Scalia died suddenly in his bed really should not strike anyone as terribly suspicious, considering his age and health problems, but that certainly didn't stop the rumor mill. His doctor released a letter saying in part that "...Scalia had been suffering from coronary artery disease, obesity, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and high blood pressure - alongside being a smoker." He also suffered from sleep apnea and a breathing machine was at his bedside, but he wasn't hooked up to it when he was found dead. In short, he was a prime candidate to suffer a catastrophic cardiac/pulmonary event that would result in death. And that appears to be exactly what happened on the evening of February 13th. His family did not want an autopsy, and the cause of death was listed as being of natural causes. And I have to believe that the conspiracy theories floating around would have themselves died a natural death in fairly short order.

But now we have to contend with the fascinating fact that Scalia spent his final hours of life in the company of the members of a "secret" society of hunters. I used the quote marks because it seems to me that any organization with a website can't be all that concerned with secrecy, and this description is from that website: "The international, male-only order was founded in Bohemia in 1695 by Count Franz Anton von Sporck, an avid hunter and patron of the arts, and carries the motto "Deum Diligite Animalia Diligentes," Latin for "Honoring God by honoring His creatures." Members wear dark green robes with that motto and a cross. The Order of St. Hubertus counts among its past members many members of the Hapsburg family and other Holy Roman Empire nobility, including Emperor Charles VI, and its current Grand Master is His Imperial and Royal Highness Istvan von Habsburg Lothringen, Archduke of Austria, Prince of Hungary."

The U.S. branch of the Order was inaugurated in 1966 at San Francisco's Bohemian Club, and that fact alone will surely cause the hearts of the conspiracy minded to beat a bit faster. And that, of course, is because the Bohemian Club happens to be the owner of the Bohemian Grove. So far, I haven't seen any evidence that Justice Scalia was a member of the Order of Saint Hubertus, but we know for certain that John Poindexter is a member. And Poindexter, of course, is both the owner of the Texas ranch where Scalia died and the man who discovered his body. He is also identified as being one of the men in the photograph at the top of the page. The occasion was the induction of four Houstonians into the Order of Saint Hubertus, and John Poindexter is described as the leader of the Southwest Priory. 

Biden Rules

“I sadly predict, Mr. President that this is going to be one of the bitterest, dirtiest presidential campaigns we will have seen in modern times,” he said. “I’m sure Mr. President, after having uttered these words some, some will criticize such a decisions and say it was nothing more than an attempt to save a seat on the court in hopes that a Democrat will be permitted to fill it.”

Say it ain't so, Joe. On June 25, 1992 then-Senator Joe Biden delivered an impassioned speech on the Senate floor during which he made almost exactly the same arguments we have hearing from Republicans on the question of replacing a Supreme Court justice in a presidential election year. In 1992, Biden was the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and he was addressing a hypothetical situation. There was no vacancy on the Supreme Court, at the time he made the speech, and Biden is now arguing that his views are being misinterpreted. Still, this will provide plenty of ammunition for Republicans, and the current Judiciary Committee chairman Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa immediately pounced on the opportunity to turn the tables:

“These are the Biden rules. The Biden Rules recognize that under these circumstances, quote, ‘The president should consider following the practice of a majority of his predecessors and not name a nominee until after the November election is completed'."

If Joe Biden weren't the sitting vice president this wouldn't be quite as troublesome for President Obama. But Biden just sat down with Rachel Maddow this past week, and flatly dismissed the Republican argument for delaying the nomination until after the next president is inaugurated. And I can't help but wonder if Biden had been sweating bullets these past days wondering if this speech was going to surface. His prediction about the 1992 election was a bit hyperbolic, and it would fall short of his dire warnings, but what he said could certainly be applied to the 2016 presidential election.

The Pope's Dream Team

Prior to the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, over the weekend, six out of the nine members of the Supreme Court were Roman Catholics. The other three are Jewish. On the face of it, one could charitably view that makeup as being evidence of our nation's religious tolerance. Because, after all, there is a long history of discrimination against both Catholics and Jews in this country. In fact, to this day, we have only elected one Catholic to the office of president of the United States and no Jew has ever been president.

So, if a religious test exists for the highest office in the land, it clearly doesn't exist for the Supreme Court. All of the tributes being paid to Justice Scalia, in the wake of his unexpected death, talk about how strongly he was influenced by his Catholic faith. And of course that aspect of his life is always presented as a positive good, at least by the mainstream media commentators. But, when I did a google search posing the question Why are so many members of the Supreme Court Catholic? some interesting things came up. And what particularly struck me is how perfectly the rightward tilt of the court, over the past several decades, mirrors the steadily increasing percentage of Catholic members. I don't think that is a coincidence. 

The Roman Catholic Church is a deeply, and fundamentally, conservative institution that stands firmly opposed to many, if not most, elements of contemporary American society and culture. And I am hardly being hyperbolic. What I just wrote about the Catholic Church is an unimpeachable statement of fact. The Vatican cannot even bring itself to approve the use of contraceptives, let alone recognize things like gay marriage or abortion rights. And both of those issues have been fiercely contested issues in the cultural wars that have roiled our politics for at least the past quarter-century. It stands to reason that, in the eyes of conservative American politicians, a practicing and devout Roman Catholic promises to be a safe bet on those issues. And their instincts have been proven correct time and again. Antonin Scalia is a perfect case in point. He consistently, and forcefully, opposed both gay rights and abortion rights arguing that because neither thing is mentioned in the Constitution, neither is entitled to constitutional protection.

Scalia was, as we have been told countless times over the weekend, a strong adherent of originalism which is a principle of interpretation that views the Constitution's meaning as fixed as of the time of enactment. To that end, he would spend hours poring over 18th century dictionaries looking up words to try and divine the precise meaning that they would have held for the Founders. Nearly all of the many tributes to Scalia I have heard over the past couple of days claim that it is through the principle of originalism that he arrived at his almost reactionary positions. The possibility that Scalia's religion might have been  influencing his decisions is almost never mentioned. Are we supposed to believe that this intensely religious man never allowed his personal faith to intrude into his judicial reasoning? That requires an enormous leap of faith. You simply cannot separate Antonin Scalia from his religion. Which is not to say that he was always 100% consistent. For example, Scalia managed to find a way to reconcile his support for the death penalty with the teachings of his church. And he clearly didn't approve of the perceived liberalism of Pope Francis, as evidenced by his childish decision to boycott Francis' historic speech to Congress this past September. I don't recall hearing any mention of that in any of the maudlin tributes to Scalia.