PRINCETON, N.J. (AP) - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is defending arguments in his opinions that some people find offensive or anti-gay.

A student asked during a question-and-answer period after the justice spoke Monday at New Jersey's Princeton University if it's necessary for him to equate laws banning sodomy with those barring bestiality and murder.

Scalia says it's not necessary. But he says it's an "effective" way to argue.

He says his point is he believes legislative bodies can ban things they believe to be immoral.

Scalia's lecture comes in a time when he's been giving speeches around the country to promote his new book, called "Reading Law."

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