"The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”
Community Conversation
"Supreme" Court?
So, after last week, I can’t help but be left wondering…what exactly do we mean by “Supreme” Court???
This was a rough couple of weeks for the United States Supreme Court from the point of view of those of us who are fighting for the rights and opportunities of marginalized people. In addition to the shocking reversal of Roe vs. Wade, we saw a lessening of restrictions on carrying guns, an encouragement of limiting voting influence, and an expansion of a public school staff member’s ability to lead students in prayer.
Young people with uteruses suddenly have fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers did, and are in more danger as a result. All of us are now in more danger from the easy access to and ease of being able to carry concealed weapons, our votes are slated to mean less and the phrase “separation of church and state” seems to have lost a sizable chunk of its meaning. All in the same week! How are you all doing out there?!
As I recall, the Supreme Court was an unbiased backstop to keep political rhetoric and argument in check, to keep things real. But sadly, if this past week is any indication, the highest court has become just as political as the other two branches of government, without the ability to vote them out if “we the people” do not like their approach. Yikes!
What we can do, and it’s more important than ever, is VOTE!!! How we vote clearly will determine the direction of future courts and will create the opportunity to legislate the laws that the court enforces.
In the mean time, here are three ally focused articles about the decisions mentioned above…
NOTE: Researching for this edition got to be very frustrating for me. I apologize for getting a little snarky and sarcastic below. I have put those kinds of comments in italics just in case you were wondering if I was being serious…
Robert
Resources
Article
Who's Hit Hardest By the Overturning of Roe vs. Wade?
Washington Post
The biggest Supreme Court news of the week was the overturning of Roe Vs. Wade, which given the recent leak was not a complete surprise, (hmmm… seems like that leak might have toned down the response a little… coincidence???), and also not surprising is the news this decision does not effect all people equally. It turns out that poor women of color are much more dramatically impacted.
Shocking…
Article
Guns: Some Congressional Progress, More Supreme Court Regression
NPR
With the tragic shock of the Buffalo and Uvalde mass shootings still so fresh in our minds, and in the same week that Congress finally made some small incremental step in bipartisan legislation for gun safety, the Supreme Court chose (by an all too familiar vote of 6-3) to declare that there is a constitutional right to carry a handgun without any need to explain why.
Welcome (back) to the wild, wild west…
Article
Don't Like the Game's Results? Change the Rules!
The Conversation
Gerrymandering, the sneaky practice of redrawing voting districts so the influence of different groups, often racially focused, gets minimized. And in the midst of their busy week, the Supreme Court chimed in on this issue too. Not by making a decision, but rather postponing their decision (by, you guessed it a 6-3 vote) on rejecting a newly drawn map in Louisiana that “would likely violate the Voting Rights Act by diluting the votes of Black voters”. Sounds like something that can wait…
Don’t like who won the game? Change the rules!
Article
Combination of Church and State?
Vox
Above you will see a photo of one of the “quiet” prayers of the public high school football coach from Washington State which became the subject of a Supreme Court Case when he was asked to stop. At least “quiet” is how Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch described the prayers, saying they were “offered quietly while his players were otherwise occupied”. Really? What does it say when a Supreme Court Justice is twisting the facts to make a case???
Sounds like “Well, I guess it’s OK, as long as it’s MY religion…” reasoning to me…