My, my! What a week for the demonstration of arrogance in government!
We began with the “defense” of Obamacare, now called by Scalia and taken up by a congressman as SCOTUScare, where we were treated to the nonsensical “thought” of the Chief Justice that since congress intended something, and it’s clearly UNCLEAR what it intended as it was passed in the dead of night with no one reading it, while we were told the nonsensical “We have to pass it to find out what’s in it.”, we must now create law to save it. This despite the fact it is pretty obvious to any even casual observer that congress <i>now</i> is against Obamacare, and only the rearguard actions of the likes of Harry Reid has saved it from complete congressional disfavour.
Now we find there is yet another “fundamental right” hidden in the constitution lo these many years. It seems to be the right to “marry”. Note that it is only “fundamental” if you are gay; no mention is made of whether you still have that right if you are 10, or want to marry your sister. Or mother (Oedipus lives! But maybe only among the Greeks.) I thought we learned our lesson about creating “rights” out of whole cloth in Roe vs Wade. Apparently not.
One has to also question whether there is also a “fundamental right” to marry, say THREE women – simultaneously (I know, I know – it boggles the imagination, but “It could happen!” as Judy Tanuta use to say). Or men. Or perhaps we ought to have a platoon wedding, seeing as guys in a platoon are closer than husbands and wives – at least in a combat deployment. So temporary marriage. Because otherwise it would affect “our sense of self”.
?How about if you want to marry your dog – to fulfill yourself, of course. It sounds “strange” but then it sounded strange to consider homosexuals as “married” before. So anything is possible. And knowing lawyers, it really won’t be long. I understand the call for polygamy has already been made.
Pshaw! you say. Not so fast. The legal “argument” made by Kennedy is SO sloppy, SO not anchored in any law, that it opens the way for all manner of things.
?And what of the Tenth Amendment. Let’s apparently simply overlook that. Just pay no attention to that.
Things are going to be changing. But probably not for the better.
Hard questions, Dev…Awaiting what happens when the responsibilities that go with this new-found “right” to marriage – and healthcare subsidies.
*…kick in.
Mr. John Yoo suggests, rather sensibly, that CJ Roberts did not want to involve SCOTUS in partisan politics, so he looked the other way. If people want to repeal it, let them do it in a partisan fight, like when it was enacted. But liberals & conservatives hate each other enough that one side or both are constantly calling for SCOTUS to be exterminated.
SCOTUS rarely does daring things, but mostly obeys the federal government & conservatives–or at least GOP presidents–are by now responsible for appointing the majority of justices–have been for about a generation actually. It’s not the old days of Eisenhower when conservatives did not know what to fear from justices..
But somehow conservatives are really bad at this part of the job. When a GOP president starts appointing people, he makes really bad choices (like Reagan with Justice Kennedy & former Justice O’Connor, Mr. Bush with Justice Souter, & Mr. W. Bush with, I fear to say, the Chief Justice). Each of the three got one right. That’s batting below .500. That means you’re hurting yourself more often than not.
As always: Dems do not fear the justices their presidents named; we fear those the GOP creates… Then there are those who are not created in the first place–because the president, the party, & the movement conservatives do nothing to defend people–like with Justice Thomas & before that with Bork. Maybe conservatives then need to do more work to defend themselves & their appointees.
Conservatives need to win elections if they want SCOTUS not to fear getting caught in a crossfire; & they need to appoint better justices. Let’s save some of the anger for our own failures. On these matters, we have done & failed to do the things that are now coming around to hurt us. We have got to understand that & do something about it.