Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/12pdf/12-10_21p3.pdf
Page Number: 25.0

Cite as:  570 U. S. ____ (2013) 

7 

SCALIA, J., dissenting 

from the elephant in the room: that the Government is not 
forcing anyone to say  anything.  What Congress has done
here—requiring an ideological commitment relevant to the
Government  task  at  hand—is  approved  by  the  Constitu-
tion  itself.  Americans  need  not  support  the  Constitution; 
they may be Communists or anarchists.  But “[t]he Sena-
tors  and  Representatives  . . .  ,  and  the  Members  of  the 
several  State  Legislatures,  and  all  executive  and  judicial 
Officers,  both  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  several 
States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support
[the] Constitution.”  U. S. Const., Art. VI, cl. 3.  The Fram-
ers  saw  the  wisdom  of  imposing  affirmative  ideological 
commitments prerequisite to assisting in the government’s
work.  And so should we.