2 8 9sl i p p e r y sl o p e snOTes
(^1) 1471 U.S. 386 (1984). This case was reported by Linda Greenhouse, “Of Tents with Wheels and
Houses with Oars,” New York Times, May 15, 1985.
(^2) Congressional Record (vol. 107, part 3, March 15, 1961, pp. 4059–60).
(^3) Nadine Strossen, “Regulating Racist Speech on Campus: A Modest Proposal?” Duke Law
Journal 39 (1990): 537–38. When she wrote this, Strossen was on the National Board of Directors
of the American Civil Liberties Union.
(^4) Richard Delgado, “Campus Antiracism Rules: Constitutional Narratives in Collision,”
Northwestern University Law Review 85 (1991): 346.
(^5) The Daily Show with John Stewart, Episode 11069 on 06/06/06 on Comedy Central.
Bennett: The question is: How do you define marriage? Where do you
draw the line? What do you say to the polygamist?
stewart: You don’t say anything to the polygamist. That is a choice, to
get three or four wives. That is not a biological condition that “I gots to
get laid by different women that I am married to.” That’s a choice. Being
gay is part of the human condition. There’s a huge difference.
Bennett: Well, some people regard their human condition as having
three women. Look, the polygamists are all over this.
stewart: Then let’s go slippery slope the other way. If government
says I can define marriage as between a man and a woman, what says
they can’t define it between people of different income levels, or they
can decide whether or not you are a suitable husband for a particular
woman?
Bennett: Because gender matters in marriage, it has mattered to every
human society, it matters in every religion...
stewart: Race matters in every society as well. Isn’t progress
understanding?^5
- What, if anything, is shown when slippery-slope arguments can be used
on both sides of an issue?
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