One Utah

US Supreme Court continues dismantling American Civil Rights in shocking series of 5-4 decisions. The LGBT community is likely next target.

The next resident of the White House MUST be a DEMOCRAT! - ACT NOW!!!

Has anyone else noticed that when Bushites hurl pejorative slogans at us usually their insults describe the Bushies better than they describe the liberals, the intended target? Case in point; Bush and his supporters are always complaining about liberal judges “legislating from the bench”, but apparently its not a problem when new Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. leads a series of shameful 5-4 decisions that continue the erosion of our civil rights, even when these decisions flagrantly contradict each other. It’s only a matter of time before these five unprincipled, extreme rightwing judicial activists who presently hold the majority in the “Roberts Supreme Court” start handing down decisions that target the LGBT community.

“In its most significant ruling on student speech in almost two decades, the court said that the principal of a high school in Juneau, Alaska, did not violate senior Joseph Frederick’s constitutional right to free speech when she suspended him for unfurling a banner reading ‘Bong Hits 4 Jesus’. - The Washington Post.

In spite of the fact that the incident took place when the students from this school had all been excused to attend the Olympic Torch Relay Pass, an event which was not held on school grounds. “The Supreme Court gave public schools new authority to regulate what students say, allowing principals to punish speech or demonstrations that may ‘reasonably be viewed’ as promoting illegal drug us.

“Lambda Legal backed Frederick out of concern that a ruling in favor of the principal might encourage administrators to prohibit students from openly declaring their gay, lesbian or bisexual orientation.” “It is unfortunate that the U.S. Supreme Court has chosen to depart from its long-held practice of protecting the free speech rights of students,” said John W. Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute, a civil liberties organization. - The Washington Post.

On the same day the Roberts Court handed down another ruling on the First Amendment right to free speech where they directly contradicted themselves. Ruling on the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law, the political ads case, Roberts says that in First Amendment cases the “tie” goes to the speaker not the censor. But in the school speech case he sided with the censor and not the speaker. If you’re confused you are not alone. Legal experts throughout the country are confused and concerned. The Supreme Court is quite simply shamelessly following the Bush agenda to whittle away at Americans’ civil liberties, and we haven’t even begun to discuss the pro-business, anti-environment rulings…

In yet another 5 to 4 ruling, the Roberts Court

“struck down programs in Seattle and Louisville that sought to maintain school-by-school diversity by using race in some cases to assign students to schools. The court’s four-member conservative wing said the use of race in school assignments always violated the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection, while the four-member liberal wing declared it acceptable in the two plans evaluated.” - The Washington Post.

Ronald Reagan appointed Justice Kennedy, now considered the swing vote on the Supreme Court, (how scary is that?) sided with the conservatives, every time. Legal experts who witnessed the rulings said they have never experienced such palpable tension between dissenting Supreme Court Justices.

While we will be dealing with the repercussions of the Roberts Court for years, even decades to come, a 5-4 conservative majority can be remedied; if it were to become a 6-3, or 7-2 majority under another Republican Administration we could kiss our civil liberties goodbye for at least another generation. The LGBT community still has four friends in the Supreme Court. While they are all seemingly healthy, they are not young — Stevens is 87, Ginsburg is 74, Souter is 67 and Breyer is 68. We must do everything we can to insure our friends regain the majority at the first possible opportunity. It is absolutely essential that the next President be a Democrat who will stop appointing conservative judicial activists to the Supreme Court. In the mean time, it’s only a question of when the Roberts Court starts handing down more rulings that strip the LGBT community of our ever eroding civil rights.

Never in my life time has the Democratic Party put forth so many excellent Presidential candidates. Pick your favorite and start volunteering. Yes, I know Utah is the bluest of the blue states, but there is still plenty we can do, even here in Zion. There is phone banking and don’t forget Nevada is likely to be a swing state again in the upcoming Presidential election. There is a lot we can do from here to help “swing” our neighbors in the correct direction. Get involved, your rights depend on it!

This entry was posted Thursday, July 5th, 2007 at 7:36 am and is filed under The Constitution. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.