Legal Commentary

A Question About Tea Party Politics

By Orin Kerr

Who are the ?Tea Party?-backed candidates who are not social conservatives? I realized that it can be hard to identify who exactly is a Tea-Party backed candidate. But it seems to me that most or all of the major candidates associated with the Tea-Party movement are social conservatives. Are there any exceptions, and if so, who are they?

UPDATE: In response to the question of what makes someone a social conservative, I?m thinking the most widely-accepted reference points would be (a) positions on abortion ? pro-life vs. pro-choice, both generally and in cases of incest/rape, (b) positions on stem cell research; (c) gay rights issues, both civil union and gay marriage and amending the U.S. Constitution to prohibit gay marriage, and (d) positions on enforcing vice crime laws, like obscenity, gambling, and drugs.

Other possible reference points would be (e) positions on immigration law and policy, and (f) positions on guns and gun control. These aren?t exactly social issues but they?re arguably not exactly traditional economic liberty questions, so they may or may not fit depending on how you define things.

Full post as published by The Volokh Conspiracy on September 16, 2010 (boomark / email).