Creeping authoritarianism

[Sanford Levinson]

I would have thought that the "authoritarian" character of Morrison or
Garrett consisted of the Supreme Court's claiming a monopoly with regard to
giving meaning to the Fourteenth Amendment.  See, e.g., Margaret Steinfels
op-ed  in today's NYTimes about the Vatican's attempt to maintain
Bishoporic authority against the laity with regard to monitoring sexual
abuse.  I take it that it is quite literally accurate to describe the
Vatican's position as "authoritarian," except insofar as the term, of
course, has a pejorative connotation.  But it has the connotation, of
course, only for democrats.  Critics of the French Revolution were
delighted to describe themselves as authoritarians because they believed in
a natural order of those with authority and the rest of us whose duty was
to obey the former.

sandy