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4 S. Cal. Interdisc. L. J. 715 (1994-1995)
Graglia's Quarrel with God: Atheism and Nihilism Masquerading as Constitutional Argument

handle is hein.journals/scid4 and id is 723 raw text is: GRAGLIA'S QUARREL WITH GOD: ATHEISM AND NIHILISM MASQUERADING AS CONSTITUTIONAL ARGUMENT HARRY V. JAFFA* To what degree, Gentlemen of Athens, you have been affected by my accusers, I do not know. I, at any rate, was almost led to forget who I am-so convincingly did they speak. Yet hardly anything they have said is true. Plato, The Apology of Socrates1 Professor Graglia's basic charge against me is that of heresy. He denounces my critiques of the jurisprudence of Judge Robert H. Bork and of Chief Justice Rehnquist in Original Intent and the Framers of the Constitution' and in Storm over the Constitution3 as a campaign of vilification4 that is both sad and shabby.5 He rejects them because, as a hard-core political conservative'6 I should not have called into question the authority of these high priests of judicial conservatism. There is alas much in Graglia's accusation that resembles not only those against Socrates, but those made against heretics throughout the ages. It is, however, unusual to be accused of heresy by an atheist, unusual but not unprecedented: there is the case of the Grand Inquisitor. * Henry Salvatori Research Professor of Political Philosophy, Claremont McKenna Col- lege and Claremont Graduate School Emeritus; Distinguished Fellow, The Claremont Institute. 1. 1 THE DIALOGUES OF PLATO 79 (R.E. Allen trans., 1984). 2. HARRY V. JAFFA, ORIGINAL INTENT AND THE FRAMERS OF THE CONSTITUTION: A DISPUTED QUESTION (1994). 3. HARRY V. JAFFA, STORM OVER THE CONSTITUTION: JAFFA ANSWERS BORK (1994). 4. Lino A. Graglia, Jaffa's Quarrel with Bork: Religious Belief Masquerading as Constitu- tional Argument, 4 S. CAL. INTERDIsc. L.J. 705, 705 (TCP #1). 5. Id. 6. Id.

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