Justice Alito who has been agitating to deny gays the freedom to marry is now objecting to restrictions on “liberty” arising from the struggle against COVID19. The news report reads: “‘We have never before seen restrictions as severe, extensive and prolonged,’ he said, and added that the pandemic has resulted in ‘previously unimaginable restrictions on individual liberty.'” I guess Mr. Justice Alito has not read about the steps taken to control the flu epidemic of 1918 nor about the restrictions imposed during WWI and WWII.

Am I wrong to see here the influence of America’s mistaken notion of liberty? If liberty means the freedom to do whatever you may want, however destructive to yourself or to others, then I guess the restrictions put in place to check COVID19 are restrictions on “individual liberty.” But does individual liberty allow us to drive an unsafe vehicle or to drive while intoxicated? Am I being denied my liberty if I’m forbidden to dump sewage into a creek that runs through my own property? Doesn’t regulation of tobacco, alcohol, firearms, and narcotics sharply curtail individual liberty? And what about the Transportation Security Administration that can inspect our luggage and our bodies?

Justice Alito is very worried about what he perceives as threats to “religious liberty.” Again, the report says: “‘It pains me to say this,’ Alito said, ‘but in certain quarters, religious liberty is fast becoming a disfavored right.'” Well, I think a lot depends on what one means by religious liberty. So I would pose the same sort of questions. Does religious liberty extend to religious assemblies that endanger the congregants and all with whom they come into contact? Does religious liberty allow snake handling, the “circumcision” of girls, “temple prostitutes,” unrestricted use of narcotics in religious services? Does religious liberty allow me to pay no taxes because I think the government is immoral? Does religious liberty allow me to beat my children if my church believes that the male should rule the family? Does religious liberty allow me to force my peculiar ethics and practices on others? What if my church condemns democracy, as the Catholic church did for centuries? Am I allowed to try to subvert democracy?

I’ve no doubt that Justice Alito was presenting his honestly held opinions. I am sorry that they seem to pander to good old American antinomian license and to the prolonged hegemony of certain religions. He has provided a list of the biases that will require him to recuse himself if the major issues of our time are referred to the Supreme Court.