I have followed the Supreme Court's activity of the past week with just a little interest. Between work and finishing my dissertation I have found little time to get involved with politics or any other great American sports (but, Go Blackhawks!) so my news has come in drips through my dissertating haze.
But with regard to SCOTUS, many of my friends have posted their pleasure with the defeat of the Defense of Marriage Act by the court. I agree with that. Anyone who knows me well knows that I am a bit left of center and marriage equality is something I fully support. However...the court's decision to overturn the Voting Rights Act means that a lot of progress in racial equality could be set back. As hard as it may be for many of us to accept, the Court has shown admirable consistency in making this decision, and the right scores some major points.
My reading of the Court's decisions is that they have embraced a "state's rights" agenda and said that the Federal government has no right to make laws that affect what are properly state's decisions. The states that wish to create restrictions on voting are given free rein to do so, just as New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, and other states embracing marriage equality can do so as well. It potentially has a chilling effect on minority (but soon to be majority?) voters in states where the ballot box, not the marriage altar, is the battleground.
Give conservatives their due. They were smart to give up on DOMA to win on Voter Rights. The alternative would have been to introduce a national marriage equality act which would have no chance of passing.
We got what we wished for. What price have we paid in the long run?
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