Sunday, September 30, 2012

Gay Rights To Be a Focus of New Supreme Court Term

Monday is the first Monday in October and thus begins a new term for the United States Supreme Court.  Among likely cases that the Court will consider are issues of the constitutionality of both Proposition 8 and the federal Defense of Marriage Act, both of which in my view are religious based discriminatory laws that seek to penalize gays because of Christianist animus towards LGBT Americans.  There was much talk last term about the Court's legitimacy being on the line depending on how it ruled on the Affordable Health Care Act and I would make the argument that they same will be the case with how the Court handles Prop 8 and DOMA.  Should it fail to strike both laws down, then it will be proof that the First Amendment guarantee of religious freedom and the promise of equal protection under the law no longer exist in America.  Adding to this reality is: the holdings of numerous lower courts striking down DOMA, the evidence at the Prop 8 trial that demonstrated that only religious based animus supported that constitutional amendment, the fact that other supreme courts around the world are increasing striking down anti-gay laws, and that six states have have same sex marriage.  The Washington Post looks at the coming Court term and here are highlights:

The court seems all but certain to confront the issue of same-sex marriage by considering suits against the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act. The law’s provision denying federal recognition of same-sex marriages performed in states where they are legal has been deemed unconstitutional both by the Obama administration and lower courts that have considered it.

In addition, the court will be asked to review a decision that overturned California’s Proposition 8, in which voters amended the state constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman.

A decision on whether to accept the gay rights cases is likely to come in November.  The cases could keep the court in the same bright public spotlight that shone on its deliberations last term.

“I think there’s no question this Supreme Court is the most conservative in our lifetime,” said Georgetown law professor Michael Seidman. “But there is a question about what kind of conservatives they are.”

In the most important cases of the upcoming term, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy is likely to resume his role as the pivotal justice.   But the greatest intrigue will surround Roberts, who, in the most important case of his tenure, sided with the court’s four liberals last June to affirm the constitutionality of Obama’s signature health-care act. 

My personal view is that Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito hold the concept of freedom of religion in contempt and believe that only their own beliefs and those of conservative Christians truly deserve protections.  As for equal protection under the law, if one isn't a member of a class they favor (and gays most certainly are not), then they don't give a rat's ass about you and/or the discrimination you face.  The gay rights cases, if taken up, may prove this sad reality and just how bigoted some of the justices are in fact..

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