Scalia's hat and the establishment of religion

by John MacBeath Watkins

Did you notice the hat Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia wore to the inauguration?

It is a replica of this one:

from Hans Holbein the Younger's portrait of Sir Thomas More. From Kevin Walsh:

The hat is a custom-made replica of the hat depicted in Holbein’s famous portrait of St. Thomas More. It was a gift from the St. Thomas More Society of Richmond, Virginia. We presented it to him in November 2010 as a memento of his participation in our 27th annual Red Mass and dinner.

Now Thomas More was famously a martyr of conscience. Specifically, he died for the principle that the Pope should be able to tell a temporal ruler what to do. In short, he was a martyr for the separation of church and state. He was against it. A constitution that bars the establishment of religion would have been anathema to him, and the society that bears his name wants religion to dictate laws about reproductive health.

The Catholic Church canonized  More and set July 9 as his feast day. The Aglican Church has not folloewd suit.

What a lovely way to show contempt for the 1st amendment.