Tag: scotus

Roe’s Cruel Endgame

The news from Politico today that the Supreme Court stands to strike down Roe v Wade this June or July is outrageous, cruel and completely expected.

Legal scholars are already predicting if the right to privacy goes, which Row is based on, then same sex intimacy, interracial marriage, contraception and more will also be made illegal in Republican controlled states.

Of this I have no doubt.

The GOP will also make it a crime to cross state borders to have an abortion or to help anyone have an abortion. So if you’re thinking people can just travel and solve the problem, no, they won’t. If they do travel themselves, or act as accomplices to help others, they will face serious jail time. Texas is enacting such a law as we speak so don’t bother with the “That will never happen” excuses.

Many, many women will die due to this blatant destruction of 50 years of US legal precedent. The law this decision is based around also makes no exception for rape or incest. Fathom that for a moment. No recourse for women who’ve been raped, and even in some cases where the pregnancy could threaten the life of the mother. Others will be forced to carry an unviable fetus to term.

Just horrendously cruel. But that, as they say, is the point.

White Christian men want to return this country to the days when women were barefoot and pregnant, stayed home and raised their all-white, straight families. They’re about to make the women alive today have fewer rights than their mothers or grandmothers did.

It’s an abomination made possible by Trump, McConnel and Republican’s unceasing March towards control of the court. Plainly put, it’s why Merrick Garland was denied a hearing and Coney Barrett’s confirmation was rushed / crammed through at the very time people were already voting for President. It’s been the endgame all along. Getting rid of the filibuster also isn’t a solution until Manchin and Sinema are made irrelevant in the Senate with a greater Democratic majority so buckle up and get ready to get off the couch and march.

The only positive aspect here is this might possibly motivate progressives to vote and hold their slim majorities in Congress. If not, millions of American lives are fucked for generations to come. Even that is doubtful since the left spoke overwhelmingly in the last election and yet here we are. Between this and the GOP’s efforts to rig voting nation wide, faith in the vote is sinking rapidly.

I’m sure Republican Senator Susan Collins is “Very concerned.”

A Good Day to Dye!

Star Trek's Worf in rainbow gay pride uniform

Yesterday the Supreme Court of the United States, in a 5-4 decision struck down gay marriage bans in 14 states effectively making it legal for gay and lesbian couples to finally marry throughout the nation. The announcement sent ripples of rainbow-colored hope throughout the country and on social media. The hashtag #LoveWins quickly spread through Twitter and Facebook and people started updating their online avatars with the bright colors of the gay pride movement in a show of solidarity that I won’t soon forget.

I created the fun image above to help celebrate the historic announcement. Star Trek has always meant so very much to me, and like millions of others who grew up enjoying its themes of peace, diversity and tolerance, the image of proud, honorable Worf standing with his brightly colored rainbow uniform just seemed perfectly appropriate. I also love a good pun and hence I made it sew (see what I did there?).

On a more serious note, the momentous events of this week still have me in a hope-filled, optimistic daze. Obamacare being upheld for some 6 million Americans who rely on it for health insurance was much welcomed news but then the Supreme Court finally recognizing gay people’s right to marry was the proverbial icing on the cake. This has been a long, long time coming and there are some who didn’t think it would happen in their lifetime.

For opponents, the SCOTUS decision on gay marriage represents an unlawful power grab that defies the Constitution, but for the majority of the nation and the court, it represents just the opposite. The Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment guarantees that all US citizens are to be treated equally from state to state. Justice Kennedy’s closing paragraph stands as a pillar of legal and moral truth that gave me goose bumps when I read it:

“No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.”

In their decision, the court didn’t construct a law giving gay people the right to marry, they simply struck down the state laws that were keeping Americans from being treated equally under the Constitution. They re-affirmed gays rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness that the rest of us sometime take for granted. For the religious-minded among us, the court was reminding everyone of the age-old proverb, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Return kindness with kindness. Respect with respect and love with love. What a wonderful time to be an American. Today is indeed a good day to dye.

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‘Judicial Activists’? Look to the Right

There’s a great deal of talk this week from the right-wing that Obama’s nomination for the Supreme Court is just another “judicial activist” judge. That is to say she’ll vote to overturn or make policy, not uphold existing laws. Before conservatives start to hoot and holler too loudly however, they should take a deep breath and look at the judges on their own side of the isle.

A study in the NYT today attempts to shed some light on which Supreme Court judges have voted to strike down the most laws passed by Congress, which is considered to be the most telling factor if a judge is an “activist”. The result? the justices that voted to overturn existing law, or “make policy” the most frequently were… drum roll… the right-wing or conservative judges. From the NY Times:

“We found that justices vary widely in their inclination to strike down Congressional laws. Justice Clarence Thomas, appointed by President George H. W. Bush, was the most inclined, voting to invalidate 65.63 percent of those laws; Justice Stephen Breyer, appointed by President Bill Clinton, was the least, voting to invalidate 28.13 percent. The tally for all the justices:

Thomas 65.63 %
Kennedy 64.06 %
Scalia 56.25 %
Rehnquist 46.88 %
O’Connor 46.77 %
Souter 42.19 %
Stevens 39.34 %
Ginsburg 39.06 %
Breyer 28.13 %

One conclusion our data suggests is that those justices often considered more “liberal” – Justices Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, David Souter and John Paul Stevens – vote least frequently to overturn Congressional statutes, while those often labeled “conservative” vote more frequently to do so. At least by this measure (others are possible, of course), the latter group is the most activist.

Imagine that. All of this is moot of course, because Sotomayor will most likely be confirmed easily and join the court in its fall session. She has the votes and by all regards (except for the 25% of the country clinging to Rush Limbaugh and Karl Rove like grim death) is a fine choice for the bench. She graduated with honors from two Ivy league schools and has even been known to side with conservatives from time to time.

To all those who rue Obama’s selection for the Supreme Court, I really have nothing to say to you except elections have consequences. Obama was the victor, and now he, not you, gets to fill vacant seats on the court. That’s just the way things work. If you need some small measure of satisfaction, you can choose not to participate in National Fist Bump Day (June 3rd). Huzzah!