The President and the Pope

[RJLipkin at aol.com]

In a message dated 6/14/2004 11:49:23 AM Eastern Standard Time,  
adsarwal at dcappeals.com writes:

did not  force you to discuss the denial of communion aspect of the story.
You did  that yourself when you said:

"This does not mean that I would hesitate  to vote against a president who
asked the Pope to instruct American bishops  to denounce action I approve
of."

The "action that I approve of" in  the context of this story has to be Kerry
taking communion in violation of  Church norms.  


I'm afraid the above  fails to observe an elementary distinction between a 
constitutional issue  and a political or policy issue.  I might believe that 
nothing in the  Constitution prohibits a President from asking the Pope to urge 
his Bishops to  act in a certain manner while at the same time believing that 
for political  reasons it is a bad idea.  Thus, I might defend a President's  
constitutional prerogative to consult with the Pope, but simultaneously  
embrace the proposition that guys I want to be president not engage in such  
conduct. Similarly, it might be constitutionally permissible for a  President to 
invade Iraq, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't vote against a  President who does 
so if my conception of what's right should counsel me to do  so. The ideas of 
the right and the good are not exhausted by what is  constitutionally 
permissible.
 
        While I always welcome  "aid[s] [to my] understanding," let me 
reiterate: what is religiously  proper concerning who should and who should not take 
communion is entirely  irrelevant to the question of whether the President's 
conduct in consulting the  Pope is constitutionally permissible.  I do not see 
that the distinction  between the religious question and the constitutional 
question is in any  way novel, but it is important to adhere to it nonetheless. 
  
 
Bobby


Robert Justin Lipkin
Widener University School  of Law
Delaware
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