Recommended Reading

Greg Kalscheur, SJ, as many MOJ-readers know, is a former MOJ-blogger (and, of course, a present MOJ-friend).  This is Greg's latest.  Follow the "Full Text" link to download the paper.

"Catholics in Public Life: Judges, Legislators, and Voters"
Boston College Law School Research Paper No. 124

GREGORY A. KALSCHEUR, SJ
Boston College - Law School
Email:  [email protected]
Auth-Page:  http://ssrn.com/author=352803

Full Text:  http://ssrn.com/abstract=965600

ABSTRACT: Does the desire to avoid culpable cooperation in moral
evil make the conscientious Catholic judge unfit for judicial
service in a constitutional system that will inevitably bring
before the judge cases that implicate a host of issues as to
which the Church offers moral teaching? Confused answers to this
question reflect a larger confusion which often accompanies
contemporary discussion of questions related to Catholic
participation in public life. The confusion stems in large part
from a failure to recognize that Catholics participate in public
life in different ways that give them different sorts of public
roles. This Essay tries to bring clarity to the confusion by
focusing attention on one of those public roles, that of the
judge. The analytical framework for exploring possible conflicts
between the demands of the law and the demands of the judge's
conscience is provided by the principle of cooperation with evil.
Applying that traditional principle of moral theology, I conclude
that there are not likely to be many situations in which a
Catholic Supreme Court justice's fidelity to his or her
conscience might require the justice to refuse to fulfill their
judicial duties in a particular case. Indeed, it is more likely
to be trial court judges who will face the most difficult
questions of cooperation with moral evil.