Looks like Alito will be confirmed, I can hardly contain my joy.
GWB sure did a good job finding another feller to get up there and follow up where his last nominee fell off, ah well, that shouldn't be entirely surprising right? Boo!!!! Alito is notorious for picking apart abortion laws to an absurd degree in an effort to avoid ruling on them, then ruling in favor of contraception and then very openly demonizing gay marriage. Where's the logic here? This scares me due to the shear fact that this man is no longer simply deemed honorable of RULING based on a Supreme Court Law, he now has the ability create and pass them...and of course, amend current laws. Like Roe V. Wade.
Even more than this, his obvious partialness to conservative, right-wing "traditional values" is completely terrifying to me. Is a judge not supposed to be an impartial voice? How can a decision be made with such clear leanings toward the right? I guess that doesn't matter since the entire United States Government is leaning to the right so far it's practically tumbling over with "traditional values", the spin is incredible. I believe this will change with time, but it is what it is for at least another 2 years.
I could easily rant about how it is so completely ridiculous that a MAN is even in the position to make decisions about what I do with or to my body or who I do it with; that these wealthy, upper crust white-bread men have no idea what it means to be a young pregnant teenager, a rape victim, an incest survivor. I could easily argue that it shouldn't matter if Woman A is a carrying an unwanted pregnancy due to some awful circumstance and decides to have an abortion and Woman B is a married housewife with 3 children and decides to have her second abortion, it doesn't matter. What matter's is that Woman A AND B is indeed capable of her own thought and making choices about her life. I am feeling a rant heavily brewing and I choose to slow it down for the mere fact that I am trying to make a point.
That point is that Reproductive Rights isn't just about abortion. The ability to make choices about our reproductive health impacts our entire lives as women. Future plans, education, partnerships, goals, expectations, our physical bodies, our emotional bodies, our spiritual bodies. Women's roles as mother is a far more complex one then many seem to think and I believe that most of us inherently know this in some manner or another. Just because I can have a child does not mean I should. Controlling my Reproductive Rights is like controlling me.
If men like Alito continue to come into power, the kind of power that gives them open permission to make decisions and pass laws, I think it is a huge threat to something I hold so very dear to my heart. And that is that I am a women in 2006 in The United States Of America. It is by shear luck that I was born here, I am grateful to have all my natural-born body parts in tact, that I have the opportunity to become educated and have openly free thought. It is a blessing that I live in a place where I am not required to be married and can be a Single Mother and I am supported in this venture. I can practice whatever idea's or thought processes I may have about spirituality, the idea that women should be honored and treated with respect is a very real one in our culture and is growing in strength every day by women and men alike. I want very desperately for our daughters and sisters and mothers and grandmothers and aunties to continue to have the opportunities of progress. Because we all deserve it as human beings, in every country, everywhere. I can hardly support a man who wholeheartedly works to defeat this progress. I just can't.
2 comments:
Dane and I share your concerns for this new Supreme Court judge. I wonder what it will do for our country, the law, and the citizens.
However, rest easy Sarah, as SC judges are in no way capable of creating or passing laws. Nor can they amend laws. One of the wonderful facets of the United States government is our checks and balances system. The Congressional department has the authority to write, create, and pass laws. The Executive level has authority to veto said bills, laws, and amendments (which can then be again overturned by the Legislative branch). And the Judicial branch has the authority to interpret laws. They can declare a law unconstitutional however. For this to happen, it would require majority vote of the SC branch and even then the Legislative (Congress) branch can amend the Constitution.
Law in America is widely determined by "case law", basically judges tend to rule based on how judges in the past rule. This is good in the sense that typically the SC is very conscientious (sp?) of American civil liberties granted by the Constitution.
In short, Alito's presence on the SC will definitely have an affect. How much is left to be determined. There really is only so much he can do. Still, his inauguration leaves me with a heavy heart. :-(
For fun - here's my source, this is a GREAT website for learning about our government's history. http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_sepp.html
Perhaps I was not clear enough in my descriptions, I was speaking in very broad and general terms.
In my eyes, a Supreme Court Judge DOES have the ability to create and pass laws as they are the ultimate level at which the barr is set. That is a power that cannot be denied, thus my fear surrounding Alito's confirmation.
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