SCALIA UNDER SIEGE

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was one of three Justices who dissented with the majority opinion last Thursday in the Court's ruling to overturn anti-sodomy laws, rooted firmly in his conviction that the government should not sanction such a risky behavior. Today, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd's enchantingly libelous piece, "Nino's Opera Bouffe" hit newsstands nationwide.

Dowd has been called "a fashion columnist out of her depth" by Pulitzer prizewinner Paul Greenberg, a label due, in part, to her unnerving tendency to write about trivial, materialistic matters one week and head for deeper waters the next. Dowd is a liberal's liberal; one who toes the Democratic party line without hesitation, a woman whose idea of "moderate" is so left of center it's unbelievable. Her status as a Times columnist may lend her credence, but Dowd should not be taken seriously. An Upper East Side sophisticate, she is decidedly out of touch with mainstream America.

In her column, Dowd compares Justice Scalia to Archie Bunker and brands his refusal to accept sodomy as equivalent to intercourse as "homophobic intolerance," when in fact it is her intolerance that compels her to blast any conservative with the courage to stand up to the everything-is-admissible movement of the last decade.

Don't take Dowd's criticism seriously. Justice Scalia will be on the bench for many more years, and he will continue to combat legislative liberalism. As for the mocking tone of her column, just shrug and call it what it is---Dowd-iness.