THERE GO DE JUDGE(S) (DOMA EDITION)

SCOTUS has come and gone, and made some rulings. You’ve probably heard about at least one. And as an American citizen and a guy with a blog, I am required under the US Constitution to express my opinions about them.

And, me being me, they won’t be the big emo outpouring you get on Facebook and Twitter, but something a little more nuanced and looking at the actual legal issues involved rather than my gut feelings about which way I wanted the judges to rule. Sorry about that.

( It might get long ... )

Looking back at the above rulings, it’s interesting to compare the actual rulings and the reasonings behind them to the armchair legal analysis on social media. Most people aren’t judges or legal experts, and tend to look at these issues based on how they feel about them. That’s fine, but then they act surprised and outraged when judges don’t rule the same way, and draw some erroneous conclusions as a result. For example: “SCOTUS says Section 4 of the VRA needs rethinking; SCOTUS therefore actively advocates the repression of non-white people from voting. FUCK YOU SCOTUS!” 

I’m fascinated by that disconnect, which assumes that SCOTUS makes all its decisions based on what’s morally right and wrong rather than the legal arguments before it. You don’t need much more than a few episodes of Law & Order to know that courts don’t work that way.

Yes, many judges are informed by ideology when they interpret law, and some abuse their power when dishing out rulings. But in the end – and especially with SCOTUS – it’s not their job to settle yr political arguments and decide which party is right or wrong. That’s why when you take yr case all the way to the top, you need to have a good legal reason for doing so, and it better be a legal reason that’s worth their time to consider.

Put another way, if you want SCOTUS to uphold DOMA, you have to give them something better than “Gay marriage is forbidden in the Bible and also really gross, Yr Honor”.

But then I think it’s funny that one guy I know went on Facebook and called SCOTUS a bunch of “fucking asshats” for their VRA ruling, then had to cheer them for the DOMA ruling, so I would say that, wouldn’t I?

And that’s all I got on SCOTUS.

Meanwhile, I recommend looking at sites like SCOTUSblog and The Volokh Conspiracy, which break down the complex legal arguments at the heart of all these cases.

Court is adjourned,

This is dF