In what can only be described as a commentary masquerading as a news brief, CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley took multiple shots at Indiana and its Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) on Tuesday by complaining about the bill’s length and indirectly using the First Amendment to support opponents of the law.
Following a report from correspondent Adriana Diaz in Indianapolis, Pelley broke the news to viewers that “we may have found the reason for all this confusion” surrounding the law. While interested viewers may have thought Pelley would reveal that a key provision or set of words were included or not in the bill, Pelley instead provided them with something else.
After putting on-screen a few pages of Indiana’s RFRA, Pelley complained that it contains “eleven paragraphs, 62 lines, and 832 words” and then thumbed his nose at lawmakers by saying that “James Madison did more in 16 words” in writing the First Amendment.
Next, Pelley read aloud the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment in thinly veiled jab at supporters before continuing to bash Indiana Republican Governor Mike Pence and legislators for making the bill the length that they did: “In fact, Madison wrote all 10 articles of the Bill of Rights in 482 words, about half the space of the one Indiana law. Indiana now proposes to fix the law by adding more words.”
Pelley closed his 48-second rant by taking one final shot at Hoosier State lawmakers by suggesting that “[m]aybe they should use a quill.”
While Pelley took issue with the Indiana law being too long (despite it being half the length of, say, a front-page New York Times article about the controversy), it’s doubtful that Pelley has nearly expressed the same amount of outrage about the 20,000 pages of ObamaCare regulations issued by the federal government or the 2,300 pages that make up the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
On the topic of Dodd-Frank, there was no such mention of the bill’s length on July 15's CBS Evening News after it passed Congress. As the Media Research Center’s Kyle Drennen reported at the time, the massive financial regulation bill was hailed by then-CBS News White House correspondent Chip Reid as “another victory on a major piece of legislation” for President Obama that will be added “to a long list” of successes “headlined by health care reform and the stimulus.”
The transcript of the brief from the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley on March 31 can be found below.
CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley
March 31, 2015
6:36 p.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE CAPTION: National Outcry]
SCOTT PELLEY: Now, this debate is all about what the law says and we may have found the reason for all this confusion. This is Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act. There are 11 paragraphs, 62 lines, and 832 words. By contrast, James Madison did more in 16 words. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” In fact, Madison wrote all 10 articles of the Bill of Rights in 482 words, about half the space of the one Indiana law. Indiana now proposes to fix the law by adding more words. Maybe they should use a quill.
