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It's been a back-and-forth week for the Supreme Court, from my (unabashedly liberal) point of view.
In an interesting 7-1 decision on Monday, they decided not to rule on a Texas University's Affirmative Action case and kicked it back down to the lower courts. I'm still not quite sure how I feel about that one…
Then, yesterday, in the 5-4 decision that is becoming the standard for this heavily-divided court, they struck down a (if not 'the') provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that establishes a formula to identify states that may require extra scrutiny by Justice Department, which may potentially lead to renewed difficulty for minorities to actually cast a ballot. That's an ugly and backward decision, in my view, and one that dismantles decades of progress.
And finally, today, another 5-4 decision that I can entirely agree with: SCOTUS ruled on two major cases involving California's "Defense of Marriage Act" (Propsition 8) and ruled it unconstitutional -- which means that same-sex couple can now once again legally marry in the State of California. This should (I hope) have ripple-down effects, and we may one day see gay marriage legal in every state of the union. We can hope, anyway…
So what did you think of the rulings?
In an interesting 7-1 decision on Monday, they decided not to rule on a Texas University's Affirmative Action case and kicked it back down to the lower courts. I'm still not quite sure how I feel about that one…
Then, yesterday, in the 5-4 decision that is becoming the standard for this heavily-divided court, they struck down a (if not 'the') provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that establishes a formula to identify states that may require extra scrutiny by Justice Department, which may potentially lead to renewed difficulty for minorities to actually cast a ballot. That's an ugly and backward decision, in my view, and one that dismantles decades of progress.
And finally, today, another 5-4 decision that I can entirely agree with: SCOTUS ruled on two major cases involving California's "Defense of Marriage Act" (Propsition 8) and ruled it unconstitutional -- which means that same-sex couple can now once again legally marry in the State of California. This should (I hope) have ripple-down effects, and we may one day see gay marriage legal in every state of the union. We can hope, anyway…
So what did you think of the rulings?
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K. [Nina Tottenberg knows.....]
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No thoughts on the Affirmative Action case, though I can make a practical defense of affirmative action in general. The loss of the Voting Rights Act was predictable, disappointing, and pretty much par for the course for this highly political court.
A little disappointed not to get a clear ruling against Prop 8, but happy with the ruling against DOMA, both on practical and civil rights grounds.