THE TED OLSON INTERVIEW

By way of my friend Linda, this interview is a lesson in how to read and interpret the Constitution ...



Got that?

When Chris Wallace asked "Where's the right to same sex marriage in the Constitution?", Ted Olson responds with "Where's the right to interracial marriage?"

When Chris Wallace brings up the will of the people, like California's Prop. 8 initiative, Olson responded by reminding Wallace that California once approved an initiative that allowed homeowners to discriminate against certain people when they sold their homes. To drive home his point Olson followed up by asking Wallace what we should do if states started passing laws that enshrined "separate but equal" schools, separate drinking fountains, making one group sit at the back of the bus, etc.

When Wallace tried to use Roe v. Wade to argue that the Supreme Court may be treading on states' rights issues - if it ruled to allow same sex marriages - Olson responded by asking how Fox News would respond if individual states decided to put access to Fox News programming up to a vote.

It's a good interview. I think I'll use it in my American Politics class.

- Mark

P.S. For those of you who don't click on the links, keep in mind that Ted Olson was President George W. Bush's Solicitor General (2001-2004). This means that he argued the Bush administration's - and the federal government's - legal cases that came before the Supreme Court.