E-mail:
Jack Balkin: jackbalkin at yahoo.com
Bruce Ackerman bruce.ackerman at yale.edu
Ian Ayres ian.ayres at yale.edu
Corey Brettschneider corey_brettschneider at brown.edu
Mary Dudziak mary.l.dudziak at emory.edu
Joey Fishkin joey.fishkin at gmail.com
Heather Gerken heather.gerken at yale.edu
Abbe Gluck abbe.gluck at yale.edu
Mark Graber mgraber at law.umaryland.edu
Stephen Griffin sgriffin at tulane.edu
Jonathan Hafetz jonathan.hafetz at shu.edu
Jeremy Kessler jkessler at law.columbia.edu
Andrew Koppelman akoppelman at law.northwestern.edu
Marty Lederman msl46 at law.georgetown.edu
Sanford Levinson slevinson at law.utexas.edu
David Luban david.luban at gmail.com
Gerard Magliocca gmaglioc at iupui.edu
Jason Mazzone mazzonej at illinois.edu
Linda McClain lmcclain at bu.edu
John Mikhail mikhail at law.georgetown.edu
Frank Pasquale pasquale.frank at gmail.com
Nate Persily npersily at gmail.com
Michael Stokes Paulsen michaelstokespaulsen at gmail.com
Deborah Pearlstein dpearlst at yu.edu
Rick Pildes rick.pildes at nyu.edu
David Pozen dpozen at law.columbia.edu
Richard Primus raprimus at umich.edu
K. Sabeel Rahmansabeel.rahman at brooklaw.edu
Alice Ristroph alice.ristroph at shu.edu
Neil Siegel siegel at law.duke.edu
David Super david.super at law.georgetown.edu
Brian Tamanaha btamanaha at wulaw.wustl.edu
Nelson Tebbe nelson.tebbe at brooklaw.edu
Mark Tushnet mtushnet at law.harvard.edu
Adam Winkler winkler at ucla.edu
The election of 2000 is finally over. George W. Bush has won his majority.
The president will tell you that his is a majority of faith: faith in his leadership, faith in his policies and faith in his values. In fact, it is a majority forged from fear: fear of terrorism, fear of uncertainty and, above all, fear of homosexuals.
The president's chief political adviser, Karl Rove, made no secret about his strategy. To win re-election, Bush would have to stoke up his base of religious conservatives and get them so excited and angry that they would turn out in huge numbers. Referendums on same-sex marriage in 11 states - including swing states like Ohio - helped push them to the polls.
For decades, Republicans used coded appeals to race to win voters. Richard Nixon spoke about "law and order," Ronald Reagan bashed "welfare queens" and supporters of President Bush's father raised the specter of Willie Horton. In 2004, the Republican Party has finally gotten beyond race baiting. "Moral values" is the new code. It does not mean morality, for burdening the poor to pamper the rich is hardly moral. It means opposition to homosexuality and secularism. The new slogan of the Republican faithful is simple: We're here, we think you're queer, and we can't get used to it.
The Democrats do not have to find morality ... they need to be able to show that they have it already; in fact, that their public policies would promote it in a better fashion than the other side.
Those who support Bush for "morality" reasons really mean they support a certain sort of morality. Code, quite true. Again, we cannot buy into the hype or let them get away with it.