Court strikes down Texas sodomy law
I’m so relieved the U.S. Supreme Court came through today and struck down the Texas sodomy law. What a happy day for human rights and privacy! The vote was 6-3, with right-wingers Scalia, Thomas and Rehnquist voting to keep the existing law on the books. The law banned private consensual sex between adults of the same sex; basically it stated that homosexual acts, if caught, were punishable by law.
There is something irking me, though. The three Justices who voted to keep the law intact…isn’t it their duty to refer to the Constitution in all matters? And isn’t a separation of church and state in the U.S. Constitution? Ok…so why are our Justices allowed to rule in favor of a law whose only ground is one of a religious nature? There is NO reason homosexuality should be illegal with a true separation of church and state. Scalia was quoted today saying, “(the ruling) effectively decrees the end of all morals legislation,” as if this was something terribly unfortunate. Whose morals though? I find it incredibly creepy that there are any members of the U.S. Supreme Court who vote according to the morals of just one segment of the population, a religious segment. It also seems to me that voting according to personal religious sentiment rather than by the principles laid out in the Constitution is good reason for removal from the bench. How are these Justices, or any judges for that matter, allowed to get away with these moral judgments?
I also believe that it’s horribly discriminatory that gays aren’t allowed to marry. I have yet to hear a good reason why they should not be allowed that is not wrapped up in personal religious belief.
Alandra said,
June 26, 2003 @ 2:56 pm
Thank you for pointing out the Supreme Court’s decision. I had been so worried about this one. Really, really hoping, but not at all confident, that the decision would be overturned. With Bush in power and so many conservative voices taking over, I am just so happy that we can at least have this little island of happiness. Liberals won. But I worry about the backlash and all of the “moral” talking and “family values” and having to hear all of that crap again. I can’t believe that Scalia actually mentioned the “homosexual agenda” in his speech. Makes me sick. Like the so-called agenda includes anything other than “treat me like you’d treat anyone else.”
But we can’t expect the trio of the right to behave any other way. We should just take pleasure in the victory and think that at least in this, at least right now, it feels like we’ve got some progress.
Tom Glenn said,
June 27, 2003 @ 7:58 am
Great points, Emily. The Supreme Court should reflect Wisdom, not politics. They themselves do not respect the deeper principles which framed the Constitution. Their decisions (and even the Constitution), should be be questioned, not blindly accepted.
Politics is based on numbers, the FORCE of popularity, not wisdom. Wisdom is based on what is right and fair, even if only popular to the minority.