Quick Hit: Nothing Shocking
Terri Whitehouse April 16th, 2008
The Supreme Court upheld Kentucky’s use of lethal injection. I’d have been surprised if it didn’t.
Archive for the 'SCOTUS' Category
Quick Hit: Neither Of, Nor By, Nor For
Terri Whitehouse January 7th, 2008
Today’s New York Times has an extensive article giving face to the Indiana voter ID case that will be heard by SCOTUS this week. (h/t: Crooks & Liars)
Meanwhile, Kentucky remains one of only three states that intentionally prevents felons from voting once their time is served. Hopefully, this will change soon.
In other SCOTUS news, Justice Antonin Scalia worries himself over any actions that might render a longer moratorium on executing people.
A Victory For Reverse-Racismists!
Terri Whitehouse June 28th, 2007
Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog reports that the Supreme Court has struck down race-based public school integration programs in Louisville and Seattle:
“The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race,” Roberts wrote. On the two school plans, the majority found that the districts have “failed to provide the necessary support for the proposition that there is no other way than individual racial classifications to avoid racial isolation in their school districts.”
This is great news because Louisville children are no longer adversely affected by Jim Crow practices that ended decades ago.
Snarkiness aside, I don’t have a dog in the fight, really. I didn’t grow up in Louisville and don’t have kids. Living in the country, long bus rides to and from school were a way of life.
Part of being a big-mouthed know-it-all is asking questions. What will be done to ensure that de facto segregation doesn’t happen again? Whatsmore, what, if anything, will be done to ensure that all public schools and communities are provided with the resources they need to help students achieve academic success? Where does our dialogue about poverty, housing, education, and race go from here? Does this court decision effectively shove cotton in the ears of those who continue to say that the playing field was leveled long ago?
The Courier-Journal offers local coverage of the SCOTUS decision, and if article comments are any indication, I’d say the answer to that last question is, “yes.” Daily Kos and Think Progress offer opinion on the court decision. I think that both sides of the busing debate make compelling arguments, but in the end, I can’t help that this decision makes me extremely uneasy. Makes you wonder who those “activist judges” really are.
Addendum: Check out the C-J’s editorial response to the Supreme Court ruling.
