Supreme Court Decisions
Dear friends of women in science,
I must admit I was hoping that having three women Supreme Court Justices would be helpful in getting smarter decisions. I'm thrilled with their decisions on marriage equality in California and nationally. But then, they didn't seem to understand (must be blind, I'd say), how hard some people are still working to deny black and Latino and elderly and handicapped people the vote, to make it more challenging for all but healthy white voters with lots of free time. The shenanigans in the last election cycle made me ill with the reminder of all that was hard-won by Medgar Evers, by Martin Luther King, by Malcolm X, and by so many others whose work is now slipping away. How could the Supreme Court invalidate the only strong enforcement arm of the Civil Rights Act? I simply don't understand how that could have happened, when even Congress took massive testimony and re-authorized it almost unanimously.
What do you think about these decisions?
cheers,
Laura
Hi Laura,
I"m confused too, but probably the thing Mandy said is right, it's just one old white man whose vote swings either way whose vote matters in these decisions. I kind of wish Clarence Thomas could have a Saul-on-the-Damascus-Road experience. He's the one I have trouble accepting as a no-voter on civil rights.
Erlinda
Hi Laura--
Well, you're imputing too much power to those three wonderful women. Did you read Ginsburg's dissent on the Civil Rights decision? It's the Kennedy swing vote that is powerful now, not the constant liberal or conservative votes.
MKF
