Court Is In Session...

Well here we go again. Another round of Inferior Court decisions are about to be made. I just read a book about how this entire court runs on vibes instead of the law. I don't really recommend the book because her style of writing was (again probably a me thing, not a her thing) way too casual and cute. Especially for the the seriousness of where we are right now.

There is an art to being able to take really complex issues and make them conversational. Adding in extra punctuation and cutsie phrases isn't it, BUT... the actual cases and the reasonings behind them were interesting to read about.

Often when the court decides something, assuming it's after a full session and not a shadow docket ruling, it's hard to parse how they got there. Like, for instance, as an example, and all that other padding that seems to always happen with legal talk, they are hearing a case this term about conversion therapy. There are states that have made the practice illegal. It's detrimental to mental health, has no evidence backing it, and it's dangerous.

The court has made it really clear in their questioning that they will not uphold the legislation from those states that made it illegal and they will instead say it's a free speech violation to tell a counsellor what they can say. That the medical professional is the one who gets to determine what they practice, not the legislators.

Okay, except they said that doctors couldn't decide to treat trans kids with hormones because it was the legislators who got to make that determination for their state.

So.... is it the medical practitioners who should be able to determine or the legislators?

And the answer is whichever one the court decides is the right answer to get to where they want to be.

Which is trying to get rid of LGBTQ+ rights and eventually people. Because they are captured by a religious mindset instead of a legal one.

They don't pay any attention to previous rulings. Even rulings THEY MADE. They just make their decisions based on getting the United States to a more Christian Nationalist locked in position. And they will even misquote the court's own previous rulings (usually through the injudicious use of ellipses) to try and make it all make sense. THEIR OWN RULINGS.

And that's if we get to see their reasoning. More and more they use the shadow docket where they don't have to explain anything. Just a thumbs up or a thumbs down and it's over.

Roberts bemoans the fact that people don't respect this court. That they belittle it. (Who would ever do such a thing to such a distinguished body of hacks justices?) But I'm here to tell you something that might shock you to hear/read me say. I agree with Roberts. He's right. People do not respect this court. Because the conservative justices don't seem to respect the laws of our nation. They have abdicated their responsibility. They have decided that the president is a king. They have decided that corporations aren't just people, but that they are the only people that matter. They've decided that one person one vote is nonsense and really it's dollars that determine if your vote counts. They've dismantled the protections for the most vulnerable in favor of the most powerful.

And that's the part that is the most infuriating. Laws should be designed to protect the most vulnerable. The powerful are fine. The whole reason for a judicial system should be to protect those that need the protection. Instead the Roberts' court says, "Good luck, and get out."

I used to follow the cases and wait for the rulings. Now I just wait for the day we can overturn them.

Hopefully someday the Supreme Court really will be.